La Graine et le Mulet (Couscous with Mullet): Food and Family Politics

Couscous with Mullet, or “The Secret of the Grain” is a movie of Tunisian born director Abdellatif Kechiche. I love this movie and this is why I am writing this article.

Let me start by introducing the characters of the movie

Slimane is a 60 year old dock worker who has been fired and is divorced from his wife Souad. He lives at the hotel of his partner, Latifa.

Souad is the ex-wife of Slimane and mother of their children. Most importantly, she is the cook of the magnificent “Couscous with Mulet”, the dish that permeates the film like a music score.

Latifa is the hotel owner and partner of Slimane, and mother of Rym. She has not come to terms with the fact that Slimane’s ex-wife and children do not accept her as a member of the family.

Rym is Latifa’s daughter and is the key person of the movie after Slimane.

The plot goes like this.

Slimane has a dream to open a couscous restaurant, serving his ex-wife’s recipe of couscous with mullet (kephalos in Greek). He buys an old tugboat and transforms it into a floating restaurant.

Rym supports Slimane in making his dream come true. She goes with him to the Bank, to the Local Authority, trying to get all the permits, the loans, and when the opening night comes, she fights (and succeeds) to convince her mother to go to the restaurant.

There is however drama in the opening night, far more serious than Latifa’s hesitation.

The couscous that Souad has cooked disappears. It is in the boot of Slimane’s son car, but never made it to the restaurant. It is still in the boot, and far away. The crowd gathered in the restaurant become edgy. They are hungry, they want their food. And at this point, Rym dances one of the most exhilarating belly dances I have ever seen. Take a look at this video clip.

While Rym is dancing her heart away, Latifa is preparing another pot of couscous to replace the one that disappeared.

What I saw in the movie

This is a movie about food and the politics of the family. It is only to be expected that food is intricately related to the politics of the family, as it is one of the fundamental elements in our lifes. Yet it is seldom that it emerges as such in cinema or other arts.

Lets start with the ex-wife and Slimane’s children. They all have a regular Sunday lunch, and Souad cooks her famous couscous with mullet. We are talking about a broken family that tries to hang together by the skin of its teeth. Disintegration and breakage is not only between father and mother. One of the sons, married to a Russian immigrant, with a baby recently born, is having an affair with another woman in a rather obvious and provocative way. In a very tense scene towards the end of the movie, the Russian wife openly accuses Souad as the supporter of her son in his amorous adventures outside his marriage.  This accusation is thrown in the face of Slimane, who appears to be the originator of the path to infidelity and break of the family. Isn’t he the one who now lives with another woman, isn’t he the one who is outside the family? Isn’t it natural for the son to copy the father’s behavior?

Over the Sunday couscous, the family would appear to be united again, even at the cost of pretending to be so. The same couscous is however the kernel of Slimane’s new life as a restaurant owner. And Slimane is not the cook, Souad is. The couscous is the material that even temporarily unites the family, it is the – potentially – only solid ground on which the family can step on. The dish exists and will continue to exist because it brings with it the memories of the motherland, and therefore the motherland itself.  The movie takes place in a small town in the south of France, with a large community of immigrants from North Africa. All the leading characters are either North African or Russian (the son’s wife).

There is another layer in the movie: who is the leading character? Is Slimane the protagonist? I am not so sure. He opens the restaurant, but the cook of the signature dish is his ex-wife, Souad. And when the crisis of the missing couscous breaks out, it is not Slimane who resolves it, but Rym and Latifa. Slimane appears to be willing but weak. The force of nature named Rym is the real protagonist of the movie, and a very charming one. She loves, she demands, she argues, she wants what she considers to be hers. And she desperately tries to support Slimane. She desperately wants a father, and a man for her mother.

I could go on, but want to stop here. I hope that I have given enough motives to those who have not seen the movie to go and see it. As for the ones who have already seen it, this is an invitation to rethink the movie, and/or see it again. Every good movie deserves to be seen at least twice.

The Awards

César 2008

As you may have already spotted on the poster, the film won 4 Cesar awards (the French equivalent to the Oscar)

• Best Director – Meilleur réalisateur - Abdellatif Kechiche pour La graine et le mulet
• Best film – Meilleur film - La graine et le mulet, réalisé par Abdellatif Kechiche, produit par Claude Berri
• Most promising actress – Meilleur espoir féminin Hafsia Herzi dans La graine et le mulet
• Most original scenario – Meilleur scénario original- Abdellatif Kechiche pour La graine et le mule

64 Mostra Internazionale d’ Arte Cinematografica di Venezia

In the 64th Film Festival of Venice, the film won two awards.

• Silver Lion – Leone d’ Argento – Gran Premio della Giuria – Cous Cous
• Award – Premio Marcello Mastroiani for a new actor/actress – ad un attore o attrice emergente  - Hafsia Herzi

Alain Resnais’ and Marguerite Duras’ “Hiroshima Mon Amour”

‘I remember Hiroshima’
‘You remember nothing’

“You saw nothing in Hiroshima. Nothing.”

” I saw everything. Everything.”

It has been quite a while that I wanted to write about Alain Resnais’ movie “Hiroshima Mon Amour”.

Alain Resnais

I get to do it today, 66 years after the bomb drop that marked the history of the world.

On the surface, it is a love affair with the city of Hiroshima and her people providing the background.

A French actress doing a film in Hiroshima meets a Japanese architect and they have sex. As time goes by, “He” asks “Her” to stay in Hiroshima forever. There are elements of “falling in love” “She” denies. In the process, “She” brings forward a painful memory that has marked her life. Her love affair with a German soldier during the war. He was killed the day before the liberation of France, and she has been marked by this relationship, both literally and metaphorically.

She appears to be mourning forever. Is she able to love?

How can she love when she does not admit that she is full of memories of her first love?

She has never told anyone about the German soldier, only the Japanese man.

The traditional reading of the film ascerts that the woman had forgotten and/or repressed the memory of her German lover until she met the Japanese man, who made her remember him. I beg to differ. In my view the woman is full of memories of her German lover, and until she met the Japanese man in Hiroshima she was not admitting it. Repressing a memory does not equate forgetting.

The sense of breakthrough that comes in Hiroshima is that the woman is able to reminisce and talk about the German, and all the horror that followed his death.The issue has never been forgetting. The issue was the continuous mourning and draining of psychological energy, was the open gaping wound in her existence, that made her until Hiroshima unble to admit and talk about what had happened to her.

Only by talking about it she has been able to start playing with the idea of loving again, which is metaphorically the same as staying in Hiroshima and not going back home to her husband.

But this is not an easy game. The inner conflict is strong. She wants to stay, she wants to love, she wants to frame her memory of the German soldier in the reality of her Japanese lover, but she cannot do it.

The time frame of the movie is varied.

In current time, it covers 24 hours.

In past time, it covers more 20 years.

This variance also applies ot the location.

The current location of the movie is Hiroshima, in Japan.

The past location is Nevers in France.

At the end of the movie, the woman gives the man the name “Hi-ro-shi-ma” and the man names the woman “Ne-vers”.

Julia Kristeva has written an essay “The Malady of Grief: Duras”, published in her collection “Black Sun”.

According to Kristeva, Duras’ story is about the meeting of two disasters:

“Nevers here, Hiroshima there. However intense it may be in its unnameable silence, love is henceforth in suspence, pulverized, atomized. To love from her point of view, is to love a dead person.The body of her new lover merges with the corpse of her first love, which she had covered with her own body, a day and a night, and whose blood she savored…. But the very dynamic Japanese engineer is also marked by death because he necessarily bears the moral scars of the atomic death of which his countrymen were the first victims.”

Marguerite Duras

Dumas comments in her scenario for the movie: “All one can do is to speak of the impossibility of speaking of Hiroshima. The knowledge of Hiroshima is something that must be set down, a priori, as being an exemplary delusionof the mind”.

The irresistible power of … UPDATED 8pm – (Το μ…νι σερνει και το καραβι και τον αρχηγο του ΔΝΤ) ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΣΗ 8 μμ

Εμεις οι Ελληνες εχομε βαθειες παρακαταθηκες.

Ειμεθα και ναυτικος λαος.

Εργο του Παναγιωτη Τσεσμελη, μαθητη Γυμνασιου Σαλαμινας

Και ως εκ τουτου εχομεν επιγνωσιν των δυναμεων εκεινων που δυνανται να τιθασευουν τα πλωτα αυτα σχηματα που τοσα και τοσα πλουτη και δοξα εφεραν και φερνουν στην πατριδα μας ανα τους αιωνες.

Max Beckmann Ulysses

Αυτη η δυναμη που σερνει το καραβι εσυρε το μεσημερι του Σαββατου και τον πανισχυρο Στρως Καν, τον επικεφαλης του λαοφιλους ΔΝΤ. Με τροπο ομως σκοτεινο.

Ευρισκομενος εις την σουιτα του ξενοδοχειου Σοφιτελ, αρτι εξελθων του λουτρου, εν αδαμιαια περιβολη, επετεθη – συμφωνα με το ρεπορταζ – σε καμαριερα που ειχε μπει για να καθαρισει.

Ουαι!!!!!!!!

Η καμαριερα δεν επιθυμουσε το ιδιο που επιθυμουσε ο πανισχυρος ανηρ.

Ουτε χαμογελουσε. Αντισταθηκε και επαλεψε. Και επαλεψε ξανα.

Μολις ξεφυγε απο τους εναγκαλισμους του Αρχηγου, η καμαριερα κατηγγειλε τον Στρως Καν στη Διευθυνση του ξενοδοχειου για αποπειρα βιασμου.

Ο Στρως Καν που αμεσως μετα αποπειραθηκε να φυγει στο Παρισι, συνεληφθη επι του αεροσκαφους της Αιρ Φρανς και ανακρινεται απο την Αστυνομια της Νεας Υορκης. Συντομα θα του απαγγελθουν κατηγοριες και θα ασκηθει ποινικη διωξη.

ΜΕΣΟΛΑΒΗΣΑΝ 12 ΩΡΕΣ

Επανερχομαι στο θεμα μας κατοπιν ωριμου σκεψεως και επιχειρω αναλυσιν ερμηνειαν και αναδειξιν ηθικων αυτουργων.

Φαινεται οτι εξερχομενος του λουτρου ο Αρχηγος του ΔΝΤ υπεφερε απο υπερβολικην στυσιν. Εμπεσων επι της καμαριςρας επιχειρησε την ανακουφισιν ή “πνιξιμο” της θηριωδους στυσεως, ητις υπερεβαινε και τα αγγουρια Ιεραπετρας (αυτα με τα πολλα λιπασματα).

Τυφλωμενος απο την φυσικην του αναγκη, ο Αρχηγος ξεχασε οτι εχει ηδη επελθει η Γαλλικη Επαναστασις, και οι καταπιεσμενοι και πτωχοι πλην τιμιοι ανθρωποι μπορουν να αντιστεκονται στις επιθυμιες των ισχυρων, οταν αυτες δεν εχουν σχεση με τις επαγγελματικες και κοινωνικες συμβασεις.

Ειναι προφανες οτι ο Αρχηγος σκεφτοτανε συνεχως και την επερχομενη υπερατλανιτκη πτηση, και τον ταραζε η ιδεα οτι θα πεταξει πανω απο τον ατλαντικο με την ματζαφλαρα στην τσιτα.

Εδω ομως φαινεται και η ελλειπης αυτογνωσια του Αρχηγου,. Εφοσον παρατηρουνται τετοια φαινομενα εις την φυσιολογιαν του, θα επρεπε να εχει εξασφαλισει την συντροφια εσκορτ κυριας, που ειναι διπλα σου για μια στιγμη αναγκης κι ετσι δεν κινδυνευεις να θελεις μετα απο την βλακεια της καβλας σου να αυτοκτονησεις.

Φωτο Αρχειου - Η σημερινη (15 Μαιου) συναντηση δεν εγινε

Ας ελθωμεν ομως και εις το θεμα των ηθικων αυτουργων. Η σκεψη αυτη μου ηρθε καθως διερωτομουνα πως θα αντιδρασουν αυριο οι αγορες. Πως θα εξελιχθει πλεον η “διασωση” της φιλτατης πατριδος. Κατεληξα στο συμπερασμα οτι πολυ πιθανα πισω απο ολα αυτα ευρισκονται οι μυστικες υπηρεσιες μεγαλης ευρωπαικης χωρας που δεν επιθυμει την διασωσιν της ελλαδος και των αλλων φαληρισαντων, αλλα δεν μπορουσε να αντισταθει στον Γαλλο Αρχηγο του ΔΝΤ που το ειχε παρει εργολαβια να “σωσει” την Ελλαδα μεχρι να εκλεγει Προεδρος της Γαλλικης Δημοκρατιας.

L’Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel, Arles, Provence, France

Today I want to share with delay my impressions from my visit to this restaurant tucked in one of the back streets of the colorful town of Arles in South France. “Country Epicure” informs us:

“Jean-Luc Rabanel was the first chef of an organic restaurant to receive a Michelin star. This was atLa Chassagnette in the Camargue, 20 km south of Arles. But he left in the fall of 2005 and in the spring of 2006  opened his own small place in the old part of Arles. He got his star back in March of 2007. “

Back in 2007, the prestigious french restaurant guide “Gault Millau” awarded Rabanel with the “top chef” award. The key reason was the creativity of the chef and the quality of the produce he used.

Rabanel has two Michelin stars today and is one of the rising stars in the world of organic produce gastronomy. Although it has been 18 months since I visited the restaurant, I decided to publish this review after my visit to Mugaritz in the Basque Country. The reason will be presented at the end of this review.

Down to the business now, the restaurant is more like a brasserie, there is nothing more sophisticated there, and the service is rather minimal. There is only one tasting menu and a matching set of wines. Take it or leave it.

The first dish was Ricotta ravioli with garlic emulsion. I confess that the grated cheese infused cookie that came with the ravioli was the best part of this dish.

Fish on a bed of vegetables. I do not remember what fish that was, my notes just say fish.

Black truffle cappuccino with coco almonds and parmesan cookies

Celery root with almonds, fish roe, sage and ice cream.

Pumpkin in mushroom broth and vegetables.

Ham with artichokes and sweet onion cream, served with polenta crisps.

Fish tails with garlic and ginger.

Lamb with vegetables

After all the dishes I was rather full, and asked the waiter to bring me some cheese instead of desert. The chef obliged and I tasted one of the best cheeses ever!!!!! Ossau Iraty, a sheeps milk cheese from the Pyrenées. For more information go the relevant website.

Overall, the experience of eating at Rabanel is mediocre. It is indicative the the strongest gastronomic memory of the place is the cheese. Not a dish!

Although the dishes have potential, they do not hit the mark. They also do not have a clear focus. By assembling all these materials on the dish you do not necessarily create, you just assemble. This could be the key problem with Rabanel. He has a nice garden, collects nice stuff from it and then dumps them on a plate. This is hardly gastronomic!!! And I do not mean the “haute” gastronomy, I mean the gastronomy of every day life.

May be the chef had a bad evening.

Brandada de Bacalao – Salt Cod Mash (Brandade)

After the excesses of Despoinarion’s Oscars gala dinner, today’s dish is easy, cheap (cost efficient) and tasty! In addition, it has a name that in some languages refers to sensual oscillations…

Lets start with the geography of the dish. It is a Mediterranean dish, in the large sense, as we find it also in Portugal and the Basque Country. We find it in Catalunya, Provence, Rousillon, Languedoc, Liguria, Valencia.

It is based on salt cod (bacalao), garlic and olive oil. The variations include bread, potatoes, cream. What I present today is my own version, which uses potatoes, parsley, dill, garlic, and bread crumbs. It is an all season all weather dish, and goes very well with white wine. Who said that cucina povera is not wonderful?

It is best to use salted cod for the dish. Desalinate the cod and then remove the skin. Simmer in milk for 5 minutes in medium heat. Then gently break the flesh in a food processor. Gently, otherwise, you will get a mousse instead of threads.

Chop garlic, parseley and dill and boil potates until they become soft. Remove from the heat, drain, and then gently mash them in the food processor. Bring all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

 Spread the mix on a baking tray that has been thoroughly oiled, cover with breadcrumds and bake in 200 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Prepare a mix of vegetables (fried or baked) for serving with the brandade. I have prepared a mix of red peppers, eggplants and zucchini with tomato sauce.

Cut the brandade in squares and serve over the vegetables sprinkling with chopped parsely.

Enjoy responsibly with chilled asirtiko, and let the good times roll!!!

Pissaladiere with smoked herring

Pissaladiere is a pizza-like dish of the South of France. Its name comes from the word pissalat (“salted fish”). It has a lot of onions, and no tomatoes or cheese.

I read about this in the Rowley Leigh cookery column of the Financial Times, where he presented a recipe with sardines instead of the traditional anchovies. I took it and gave it a twist, so that it has smoked herring, which I like very much.

The dough is very simple: 300 gr flour, 2 tablespoons of yeast, warm water, 1 tablespoon of salt, one large egg.  Mix until you get a firm enough dough that you can spread over a deep baking tray.  Leigh recommends also 150 grams of butter. I did not put it in, as it would make it very heavy for my summer taste.

Slice the onions, 6 large ones is the minimum, and put them in a large saucepan with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Let them stew for at least half an hour, and let it chill for another half.

Once the dough is evenly spread in the baking tray, spread the onions on top of it.

Now is the time to add all the toppings on top of the onion base.

The first to go is sliced chilli peppers and black olives. The next is thinly sliced basilico, dill, and parsley. Finally, I add the herring in stripes and add the final ingredient, fresh oregano.

The key here is not to add any cheese or tomato.

Bake in the oven (230 Centigrade) for 20 minutes and serve with a full-bodied white (like a Sicilian Chardonnay).

The dish is wonderful! IT has a kick from the peppers, it is sweet because of the onions, it has the savory bitterness of the olives, supplemented by the aromatic greens added on top, and the queen of the dish, the herring comes out of the bouquet of flavors on top.

Poeme electronique: The Phillips Pavilion in the 1958 Brussels World Fair

This post is about the joint work of three modern day geniuses: Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese, and Iannis Xenakis:

Poeme electronique, the multimedia environment at the Phillips Pavilion in the 1958 Brussels World Fair.

In 1956, the artistic director of the Philips company, Louis C. Kalff, asked Le Corbusier to design a pavilion that would embody and demonstrate the excellence of the company’s products for the benefit of visitors to the Brussels World’s Fair. Le Corbusier agreed, proposing a “bottle” that would house a light, colour, image, rhythm and sound show that Le Corbusier called an “electronic poem”. Poème électronique was the title of the musical score commissioned from avant-garde composer Edgar Varèse specifically for use in the Pavilion.

(Source: Carlotta Daro, Canadian Center of Architecture)

The Philips Pavilion staged what would now be called a multimedia event, or interdisciplinary poly-art orgy, for the five months of the World Fair. There were projected images (Le Corbusier at least chose these), two hanging, sculptural figures, and two pieces of early electro-acoustic music: Xenakis’s Concrète P.H., and Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique. The exterior of the Pavilion was based on the parabolic curves that Xenakis had discovered in mathematics and which he used to structure his early musical works, such as Metastasis; it was a symphony in swooping steel and concrete, and seeing it today in photographs, it still looks like the future made flesh. (Never designed as a permanent structure, the Pavilion was pulled down shortly after the World Fair – a shame, since the theoretically impermanent Eiffel Tower is still going strong).

(Source: How Iannis Xenakis turned his back to Architecture, Guardian)

Before you read on, have a look at this “virtual” representation of the project.

«The Philips Pavilion presented a collage liturgy for twentieth-century humankind, dependent on electricity instead of daylight and on virtual perspectives in place of terrestrial views.»
(Source: Marc Treib, Space Calculated in Seconds, Princeton, 1996, p. 3)

Le Corbusier wanted to create a Gesammstkunstwerk. As an architect he understood how people experience space and fill it with sight and sound

Poème Électronique is a concept that jumps straight off the theoretical draftboard into reality. That’s why he threatened to quit altogether if Philips wanted to drop Edgard Varèse. The whole point, for Le Corbusier, was that Varèse, neglected and frustrated, represented the new frontier, mixing technology with art.

(Source: Classical Iconoclast)

“The structure is composed of hyperbolic-paraboloid shells which, up to now, have not been used for the problems of the type. The walls are constructed of rough slabs cast in sand moulds on the ground, measuring about 5′-0″ on a side and 2″ in thickness. They are mounted in place by means of a movable scaffolding and are supported by a double network of cables, 3″ in diameter, suspended along the cylindrical directrices of strongly reinforced concrete. Such is the principal of the structure.”The electronic poem of Le Corbusier at the Philips Pavilion marks the first appearance of a new art form; ‘The Electronic Games’, a synthesis unlimited in its possibilities for color, imagery, music, words and rhythm.”

Source: Le Corbusier Complete Works in Eight Volumes

“The electronic poem of Le Corbusier at the Philips Pavilion marks the first appearance of a new art form; ‘The Electronic Games’, a synthesis unlimited in its possibilities for color, imagery, music, words and rhythm.”

(Source: Hans Girsberger, ed. Le Corbusier 1910-60. p236.)

“They asked Le Corbusier to design something and Le Corbusier asked me to design something. At that time, I was very much interested in shapes like hyperbolic paraboloids, things like that; and so I organized them to form a shell in which we could produce sounds and images on the walls. I did the designs and I showed them to Le Corbusier and he said, ‘Yes, of course.’”

“The structure represents a shift from a translational notion of volume (whereby the elevation is a vertical translation of the plan) to a new concept of volume, with three truly distinct, non-homomorphic, dimensions.”

– Yannis Xenakis, design engineer and Le Corbusier associate

As the story goes, Le Corbusier did not acknowledge Xenakis’s role and contribution to the design and construction of the Pavilion, resulting in the two men having a dispute in 1957. Here are the details:

“The ground breaking on the project was in May of 1957. The images to be projected inside were still not assembled, while Le Corbusier made excuses about a constant preoccupation with the project and needing adequate time for his ideas to gestate and be realized. Le Corbusier arrived in Paris to sign off on the design, then went to Eindhoven where he played it up to the press, posing for photos and pointing out his unique design elements at work. Xenakis was disgruntled, feeling neglected, unacknowledged, and upstaged. This kind of treatment is the norm, particularly in design firms. The head of the firm comes up with the broad strokes, dividing time between PR work and asking designers to adjust their work, then signs off on the plans and takes the credit. Xenakis, however, was not prepared for this reality. He immediately wrote to the Philips Corporation, claiming the design as his own, and requesting due credit in future. Such a move was unprecedented. Le Corbusier had never shared credit with anyone, and an employee with such audacity would normally be summarily dismissed. Xenakis, however, was too important to the firm, and Le Corbusier was forced, however reluctantly, to acknowledge, if not accept, Xenakis’ design contributions. Le Corbusier wrote to Philips, defending his work methods, claiming that none of his 250 architects had ever received any credit for any of the firm’s work.”

(Source: Discorgy)

Architecture’s loss was, however, music’s big gain.

Xenakis turned his creative genius exclusively to music.

I want to share with you “Sea Nymphs”, a piece he wrote in 1994 for the 70th Anniversary of the BBC Singers.

The reason is that I was fortunate to attend the world premiere of the piece in London’s Wigmore Hall.

During a break, I managed to talk to Xenakis himself.

A soft spoken, extremely polite man, who contributed immensely to contemporary music.

Van Gogh in Provence – Part II: Saint Remy de Provence

Today I continue with my two part article on van Gogh’s stay in Provence. The second part covers the period he stayed in Saint Remy de Provence. Van Gogh was admitted to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Remy de Provence in May 1889. Saint Remy is a sleepy village 15 kilometers away from Arles. Upon my arrival I realized that there is a fully functioning mental hospital in the premises of the old asylum. Access to the premises is restricted, so no luck there. However, in a nearby building complex, that is more or less as it were 150 years ago, I found an environment and aura that trully moved me.

Vincent van Gogh was a very sick man when he was admitted to the asylum. He confessed to his brother Theo immediately after his admition that he is “a broken pitcher”.

I have read contradictory statements regarding the professionalism of the asylum in treating the mentally sick. In any case, I saw the regular instrument, the bathtub with its cover so that the patient (or victim) would be unable to free himself from the tubwith only the head and the palms sticking out.

Whatever the case, another sure sign of the restrictions was the window. A window with iron bars.

The bedroom is spartan, in many ways reminiscent of the Arles painting.

The bed is different, but the chair and the aura is the same. As as the aura of the corridor, simple, frigid and leading to eternal emptiness.

It is not coincidental that the patient wanted to paint the corridor.

Antd then there is the external world. The opening, the exit, the escape, only to return more intensely to the dark interior.

It is nice to be outside the confined space.

During the day…

and during the night …

you even have the chance to lay your eyes on a human being…

in your memories that haunt you… but prisoners always return to their inner yard

and pray for the sower to come ….

Van Gogh was not cured in the asylum and in less than one year’s period, moved north, to a small town near Paris, where he was to meet the Redeemer.

Restaurant Cilantro, Arles, Provence, France

Today I continue with a restaurant review from Provence, the picturesque town of Arles.  I want to share with you my experience from the Restaurant Cilantro, a stone’s throw from the famous Roman Arena of the town.

Συνεχιζω σημερα το οδοιπορικο στην Προβηγγια, και την ομορφη πολη της Αρλ, με την επισκεψη μου στο Εστιατοριο Κολιανδρος που ειναι διπλα στην διασημη Ρωμαϊκη Αρενα της πολης.

The young talented chef Jerome Laurent comes from 6 generations of professionals in the hospitality trades. In 2004, he has decided to open Cilantro in his home town of Arles.

Ο νεος και ταλαντουχος σεφ Ζερομ Λωραν προερχεται απο 6 γενιες επαγγελματιων σε ξενοδοχεια και εστιατορια. Το 2004 αποφασισε να ανοιξει στην γενεθλια πολη του Αρλ το εστιατοριο του.

This looks like a house entrance, and it is. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of Jerome’s family home.

Η εισοδος στο εστιατοριο, που στεγαζεται στο πατρικο σπιτι του σεφ.

The decor is minimal but quite pleasant, and the staff polite and effective.

Olive paste and chorizo to wet the appetite.

Παστα ελιας με σαλαμι πικαντικο

Caramelized scallops served in a foamy bath of aromatic stuff.

Χτενια καραμελωμενα σερβιρισμενα σε ενα αρωματικο αφρο απο βοτανα και μυρωδικα.

Artichoke cream with black truffle.

Κρεμα αγγιναρας με μαυρη τρουφα.

And now we come to the revelation of the meal, the absolute creation of Nature and the Chef: ” Veal Sweetbreads with artichokes, black truffles and mashed potatoes”.

Το απολυτο αριστουργημα της βραδιας, μοσχαρισια γλυκαδια με αγγιναρες, πουρε πατατας και μαυρη τρουφα!

In my humble experience this dish is a masterpiece and in its divine simplicity it offers you clarity of textures and tastes that is unique!

Θεϊκη απλοτητα, απολυτη ευκρινεια γευσεων και υφης, το τελειο πιατο, μοναδικη εμπειρια.

I would go back to Arles, only to taste again this dish!

Και μονο για να γευτω αυτο το πιατο, θα ξαναπαω στην Αρλ.

Thank you Jerome.

Ευχαριστω Ζερομ.

P.S. Date of visit: March 2009. At the time of the visit, the restaurant was recommended by the Michelin Red Guide as “one star”.