Quick! Imagine the ultimate, Michelin-star French meal. Chances are, you are thinking foie gras, canard, rich sauces, and endless courses of tiny little bites. In most regions of the world, you would be right.
You may correctly guess the wine region of Bordeaux, France, is filled with many such restaurants featuring highly trained chefs and spectacular cuisine. However, in the village of Saint-Gervais chef/owner Franck Descas has carved out a unique niche for himself as the master of cuisine from the sun.
What is cuisine from the sun, you might ask? Though Chef Descas has worked in many three-star Michelin rated restaurants in Paris and elsewhere, his Caribbean roots shine forth in his excellent “gastronomic” Au Sarment where the colorful French/Antilles cuisine tastes even better than it looks.
So, you may wonder, why would a world-class chef, who ran so many top restaurants, leave the lights of Paris for the tranquility of Saint-Gervais? As is the case with so many winemakers and innkeepers I’ve met here, Chef Descas and his wife Anne desired a simpler lifestyle for themselves and their three young children. The family lives above the restaurant and the children enjoy helping their parents out on occasion.
Led to the table by his charming wife Anne who manages the front of the house, we bask in the flavor of the warm Caribbean on a somewhat chill, rainy January night. For a starter, I order Scallops flavored with vanilla and chestnut and served in a canoe-shaped serving dish. Delicious! Yet I glance an envious eye at my friend’s dish, King Prawn and vegetable tempura drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar.
Unlike the United States, where top restaurants pack the room, the Descas’s try to spread people out throughout the three main, pleasantly decorated rooms of their restaurant to give additional privacy. Anne is assisted by a highly trained young wait staff who, like Anne, speak and understand English.
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