Rating: 18/20
Where: Les Baux-de-Provence, France
When: Dinner for 4 on 13 May 2022
Cost: Tasting menu 165-305 Euro, Wine pairing 145-220 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Great Provence-inspired cuisine, a lovely setting and a wonderful, unhurried service

L'Oustau de Baumanière is located in Provence, in a picturesque valley that is surrounded by dramatic rock formations. Definitely worth a walk before or after dinner to explore. The restaurant is part of a five-star hotel, but is situated at the opposite end of the valley from most of the hotel rooms.

From an American perspective, the restaurant's main claim to fame is that Wolfgang Puck learned his craft here before moving to the United States and creating an empire of fine dining restaurants, airport eateries and canned soup.

This was our second visit to the restaurant, after previously eating here in March 2017 when the restaurant had two stars. At that time, we were welcomed by name when we walked in. Newfound celebrity status? Sadly no - we were simply the only table during our lunch seating. The friendly and unhurried service paired with excellent food made us look for an excuse to come back, and the recently awarded third Michelin star provided one.

On this return visit, the restaurant was completely full - what a difference a star can make. Dinner service started outdoors on the terrace with an aperitif and appetizers. A lovely setting: perfect, warm weather, and the sun disappearing behind the craggy sides of the valley. In the middle of summer, the whole dinner can be enjoyed outdoors, but during our May visit, the impending chilly night air led us indoors for the rest of the meal.

The meal started with a bang - the appetizers were out of this world. They were all seafood based and served with a postcard conveying "greetings from my native Brittany" from the chef. A sandwich of squid ink chips filled with a mascarpone cream was close to perfect. The cracker nicely crunchy, the creamy cheese adding just the right amount of saltiness 20. Next was a seaweed tartlet with a bit of lemon peel on top. This tasted mostly like cilantro (without any hint of the sea), but otherwise was wonderful, maybe with a touch too much tartlet compared to the filling 19+. Lastly, we had an oyster shell filled with cucumber foam over caviar. Light and with a great cucumber flavor 19+.

We were offered two menus for dinner: a regular and a vegetarian tasting menu. In either case, the dessert had to be chosen from the a la carte menu. Speaking of which, there apparently is one, but one has to ask for it. We went for the regular tasting menu. Regarding wine pairings, there were again two choices, differentiated by price. When we asked for one of each, the sommelier initially demurred. When asked why not, he responded that "it's easier for us if you all order the same pairing". Ouch! That's not the answer you want to hear at a three-star Michelin restaurant. Thankfully, he eventually relented. Both pairings were nice, and included a black glass of wine that challenged us to guess the wine (success rate: 1 out of 2). The more expensive pairing happened to be consistently better - not always a given.

Dinner proper was led off by a crab salad with cucumber jelly, mayonnaise and a fish soup reduction. The dish was tasty, but the mayonnaise made it a bit too reminiscent of tuna salad. The crab was more grayish than white, and didn't taste as fresh as one might expect. Still a very nice dish overall 18.

Every course was served with a different, usually cold, piece of bread. The first course came with a slice of brioche. Feeling more like a baguette, it was pretty unmemorable. Its main utility was as a delivery device for the two excellent local olive oils served alongside 14.

The next course was red mullet in two preparations. A piece of raw fish was close to tasteless, and not the most tender cut to boot - 15 is probably generous. Unfortunately, it is hidden in the picture above, but imagine a raw piece of white fish. Next to it was a mousse of red mullet seasoned like a bouillabaisse. A much better dish with strong flavors, albeit pretty heavy, it was served with a pleasant chickpea tartlet 17.

The milk bread served with this dish was again cold, and the least successful of the breads 12.

Sardines starred in the third course. Sardine mousse and deep fried sardine heads were served with a concentrated sardine sauce. In a separate bowl was a cream of toasted bread. This dish was dominated taste-wise by the very salty sauce. The bread mousse was almost tasteless, with only a vague sense of breadcrumb-like texture. Overall, 16. The accompanying bread was served warm, and pretty good as well 16.

Next, a "cod monsieur", i.e. a sandwich resembling a croque monsieur, but made with cod instead of ham. It was served with a sauce and a tarragon mousse on the side. The fish was very light in flavor, the buttery bread and sauce a bit heavy, the tarragon mouse very lovely, and arguably better than the sandwich itself. But taken together, this worked really well 18.

Blue lobster was served two ways: as a claw and as the main body. It came with lobster sauce, a tarragon sauce and a cooked beet as well as beet chips and cream on the side. Plus, a cold beetroot-colored bread 14. The lobster was very good, in particular the claw and the accompanying sauce. The beet mousse was nice and creamy, but a bit of a letdown compared to the rest of the dish. The star of the dish was, interestingly, the cooked beet. Savory, lots of umami, and even chocolaty notes, it was amazing. A side vegetable upstaging a dish, this reminded me of Zilte 19.

The next course was a rack of suckling lamb with a sauce of mussels and seaweed juice, next to cooked spinach. A lovely cut of lamb 18, and the fougasse bread served alongside was also very good 18.

For the pescatarian menu, we received a green asparagus dish from the vegetarian menu. The stem of the asparagus was marinated and thinly sliced lengthwise, whereas the head was charred. This was served atop an asparagus and lemon sauce. Fine, but not exemplary in any way - the lamb was better 16.

The final savory course was pigeon done two ways. First a breast, and second a lollipop of liver and heart, all served with pigeon jus. The pigeon breast had been cooked inside a bread ball, which had been presented to us a couple of courses earlier. Next to it was a green onion filled with what seemed like cheese. The best part of the dish was, drum-roll, the green onion, which easily would have scored a 19. The pigeon itself was less exciting, the most flavorful part being the lollipop 16. The matching bread was unmemorable 13.

The pescatarian replacement was again from the vegetarian menu, a compressed vegetable dish. It felt meaty, with the sweet carrots dominating the flavor 17.

The cheese cart was pretty minimal with only five cheeses on offer. Those were a mixed bag, some very good and others lackluster. The fig nut bread on the side was lovely 17.

An intermezzo followed. A spoon of olive oil mousse and molasses was served with a cold "soup" of apple, thyme and olive oil. All in all pretty nice. I liked that the molasses were used to glue the spoon to the plate for easier transport from the kitchen, but also added significantly to the taste 18.

The following cocktail of beetroot with a cracker (no picture) was even better 19.

As mentioned before, the desserts had to be ordered a la carte, and since we had enough diners at the table, we ordered all four possible choices. They ranged from good to very good.

Apple served with a seaweed sauce was the most unusual of the desserts, an interesting combination of sweet and salty 17. A strawberry creme brule was served with strawberry granita and a tartlet of herbs. All components worked well alone and well together 18. The mille-feuille had a perfect crunch and a wonderful vanilla ice cream on the side 17. Finally, a crepe with grand marnier sauce was great, but the filling of whipped egg white was a bit overpowering - less might have been more 18. The last two desserts reportedly have been on the menu since the 1940s.

Time for the final bites. Egg yolk and corn mousse with mezcal was served in an egg shell, and was pretty uninspiring 16. A tartlet filled with milk emulsion and a cow-shaped drawing made from lavender honey was much better, the tartlet having a nice crunch 17. Finally, 65% Ecuadorean chocolate with almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts was ok, but nothing special (at least to someone who tried literally hundreds of single-origin chocolates during the Covid pandemic) 15.

Overall: A very good dinner, inspired by the cuisine of Provence, but without being overly regional. The cooking varied somewhat and ranged from pretty good to stellar. I wouldn't mind returning in the summer and eating outside on the lovely terrace 18.

PS: The scenic valley was a lovely location for a pre-dinner run. I wish I had had more time to climb all the way to the picturesque village overlooking the valley on the east.