Cafe des Artistes Laroque des Alberes

[Kathy]

Has anyone been here? I fancy trying it. I have gone past a few times and it looks fairly busy but don't want to waste my money if it isn't any good.

[sue and paul]

We had a very nice lunch there a good while ago with one of our sons. Can't remember what we ate or how much it cost though. Pretty useless help really!! but I'd certainly remember more if it had been duff!!

[Kathy]

If lunch was good then it should be OK. I have a few favourite restaurants but no cheapies amongst them. (by cheap I mean good home cooking at a reasonable pice).I am going to try Les Albeilles and if I have time I'll give Cafe des Artistes a try and write a review.

[blackduff]

The food is okay and the prices seem "Normal" for the area. The biggest attraction is the summer terrace.

In the winter months, it's very tight to have a meal there. It's not a really big bar/restaurant but you can have a meal for a smaller group.

There will be darts in this year. I think it should start sometime in November. Normally it will be one day per week. Good fun and a nice group. Some French and some English.

Within Laroque, you can find several other restaurants too. Just across the street from the cafe des artistes will be La Palmier (sp?) and this is on the high side of expensive. The food is great, according to my wife. I've never had enough money to try this myself.

At the top of Laroque is La Cueva. The food is pretty good, the prices are okay too and the wine in pichet is quite nice. I had a meal last night and it was very good meal. I choose the menu at 24 € which gives you a choice of tapas, a main course, and a sweet. There's another menu at 28 € which gives you a better choice for the starter. The Carte was changed and the items are new for my palate. Last night was 51 € for two-1 liter of pichet wine, and coffee-two people.

Between the restaurants I mentioned, there's another small bar which is serving tapas too. This is Casa Lili. The owners have given control for a woman for this year. Mimi is going to handle the bar and fix the tapas. It was full when I drove past last night.

On the same street but closer to the Cafe des Artistes you'll find a nice small wine bar. Claude reigns most evenings and they're selling beer too nowdays. This is the cheapest drink in Laroque.

I'm not a rounder and hitting all of the cheap drinks but I know most of the players. I've been that area since donkey years.

Blackduff

[Santiago]

Cafe des Artistes is pretty good. I've eaten there once and had several drinks there too. Nice staff, very friendly. I thought lunch was good value.

Claude's is also good. It's nice to find a bar where there are a number of decent wines to try. He allowed us to bring in Pizza's from Pizza Coco too.

On the subject of good food and wine, why do people choose a really nice menu and match it with a pichet of cheap plonk? If the food is good, surely it's worth choosing something equally nice to drink. I know the restaurants are partly to blame by offering free wine with some of their menus.

[john]

Surely this totally depends on the quality of the pichet wine on offer? It is ridiculous to generalise. Of course it is a question of knowing the patron/wine concerned,but I've often had pichet wine that is far superior to anything in a bottle at that particular establishment

Any patron woth his salt will offer a wine that is commensurate with the cooking on the menu.


On a related subject,I seem to remember someone mentioning "Ancienne Ecole" at Palau dV many moons ago.Has anyone been there,and what is it like?

[blackduff]

My wife had a meal at the Ancienne Ecole last week. She said it was great. She had a birthday present for an older ecole studient. I can't remember which items she chose but she did say it was very good.

There's another restaurant in Argeles which I use very often, The Flowers. They have lots of gallets, crepes, and a full menu. The biggest item for me is the nice salads. The smaller salad is 6/7 € and the bigger is 10€ +/- although it's difficult to eat the big salad.

The pichet rose is good and there's a superb rose from Collioure. I am not sure of the name but it's something like Vaso Peintres. Sorry, it's not correct but it's the most rose on the menu.

Cayrou is another Argeles restaurant but I've never eaten there. I checked the menu listed outside and it really looks scrumpy. For some reason I never find them open when my pocket is rich. The prices look a bit dear.

Blackduff

[sue and paul]

We go to L'Ancienne Ecole fairly often. It suits us very well...the young owners work hard to provide a varied meat/fish/poultry menu, always beautifully cooked to order. The ambiance is not noisy, and in summer there is a lovely new courtyard dining area at the front. 3-course menus from about 18 -42 euros. Look at www.ancienne-ecole.fr

[Rose]

The wine in a pichet at La Cueva is from St. Genis des Fontaines and can be bought from the local shops and Champion. It is quite pleasant and I don't think Francois would provide anything that isn't. I think it is also used at the Cafe des Artistes.

[DavidB]

I am going to try Les Albeilles

We've used Les Abeilles at St Jean pdC quite often, and found it OK. Sunday lunch was good....lots of people there, reasonable prices and pichet of red very good. Cost for 4 people during the week for 3 courses + aperos + wine + coffee around 70 odd euros.

[john]

I am going to try Les Albeilles

We've used Les Abeilles at St Jean pdC quite often, and found it OK. Sunday lunch was good....lots of people there, reasonable prices and pichet of red very good. Cost for 4 people during the week for 3 courses + aperos + wine + coffee around 70 odd euros.

I'd agree with that.Perhaps not the most atmospheric place to eat,but the food is good for the money.

I think they've changed their wine supplier.Up to about a year ago,the pichet wine was dire,but it's excellent now.