Castre!

With my vacation over I am on to the next chapter of this voyage. After a few nights in a hostel ran by Spiccoli I left for a full day of train riding.  Starting in San Sebastian I went to Hendaye, bayonne, tolouse to finally arrive in Castres, France sometime after 10.  The town reminds me something of the small boutique French city that lingers in your thoughts when dreaming of France.  Cobblestone roads lead to a lively market in the square that feeds the families and restaurateurs alike. It’s a place with patisseries around every corner, incredible baguettes and beautiful girls with that irresistible French accents.

Im here working in Bistrot Saveurs a 1 Michelin star restaurant with a modern style using local products and international influence.  Its ran by chef Simon Scott who spent some time as an exec. Chef at the Savoy hotel.  The restaurant has an incredibly different feel to it compared to Berasetegui.  I went from a restaurant with nearly 60 stages and 10 chefs to something like a very high end mom and pop place.  Theres 3 cooks, chef, his wife and another girl working the front and our very French sommelier.  The most interesting character in the restaurant is lucky, who happens to be a big black lab which is always watching from just outside the kitchen.  We make our own bread every day, something unheard of in most parts of Spain.  Myself along with Spencer walk to the market every other day with chef after a macchiato at the coffee shop which can be seen from my 4thstory window.

The style of the food is also obviously very different.  A 3 star is all about consistency.  Many of them will have basically the same menu for an entire year, or longer.  Since, well that’s how they got the 3 stars.  Though what we’re doing here is completely different.  Pretty much every service we change things up a little bit.  Different dishes, garnishes, styles of plating, everything changing per service.  It’s a style something like Le Chateaubriand.  Serving new things whenever we like depending on what we see at the market or what the best product our purveyors have.  On average we serve 25-30 covers per service and we are putting out some incredible plates.  Im half way into my second week and I can’t wait for what’s next.

p.s. thank you to all my friends for the various pictures ive stolen.