L’Auberge Provençale
Place des Arcades, Valbonne
06550 France
The Place des Arcades in Valbonne. The restaurant is at the right.
The Place des Arcades full of restaurants
L'Auberge Provençale
L’Auberge Provençale is a restaurant located in the heart of the old village of Valbonne. Valbonne is a great place full of restaurants. It is very residential too, and many of the people working at the nearby high-tech park of Sophia Antipolis (Amadeus booking system, Toyota design centre etc are based there for example) live in the area. I know the area quite well as I used to go there at least once a week when I worked in Mougins.
Well, things have changed as it was not possible to order a pizza at the Auberge Provençale a few years ago. Now we can, so we ordered a pizza Calzone (11.50 euros) and “une Formule” which includes the meal of the day or a salad and a dessert (13.50 euros). We chose the salade niçoise. The dessert for the formule was a red fruit tart. I also had a Cafe gourmand including a coffee of course but also 3 little desserts (5 euros). As drink we had a 1/4 pitcher of red wine (4 euros).
Big salade niçoise
Huge pizza Calzone
Close-up
The salad niçoise was pretty good. The salad leaves were nice and crispy and the salad had plenty of variety. I wasn’t totally thrilled with the salad dressing though, so whilst still good, it wasn’t the best salad niçoise I had this week. There were also anchovies in this version, which I don’t much like (I forgot to ask for these to be withheld) so I did have to pick my way around them. The pizza Calzone was huge and quite dense. Do not order it if you have a small appetite! It was perfectly cooked with a slightly burnt crispy base. Often the calzone is full of air and then looks small once you break the shell but here the pizza was full of cheese, ham and mushrooms. It was quite compact! The egg was good, not overcooked as can happen with this type of folded pizza.
Café gourmand
Raspberry tart
The desserts were excellent. The red fruit tart was far from being too sweet, and even was a little on the sour side (which I quite like), and its base was firm and crispy. It had a home-made quality, and was a nice end to the lunch. The Café gourmand was great: the coffee was fine, the coconut biscuit light, the crème brûlée very good (presented warm with a crispy caramelised top) and the crumble (warm) was nice as well.
Cost and conclusion: it was 34 euros, not bad for a good lunch in a very pleasant place. The service was friendly and efficient. We had worried a little on arrival, as it was obvious that the ownership had changed since we were last here, but we worried for no reason. Although different, l’Auberge Provençale is still very good and we will return again. Recommended if you’re in the area.
A Jack Russel napping in the sun
Nice fountain (a minute walk from the restaurant)
