Montpellier - Antigone, L'Arbre Blanc, Dinner at Le Bouchon Saint Roch, and Maison Bonnaire

As we were trying to decide what do for the afternoon it started drizzling. But that didn't deter us once we made a decision. I knew the Missus got Her fill of the Old Town, so how about checking out the "Neoclassical" side of Montpellier? We decided to take a walk to Antigone. Heading thru the Polygone Shopping Center.

Much of Antigone was designed in the Neoclassical style by Spanish Architect Ricardo Bofill. There are some pretty grand structures.

That's the huge Place de l’Europe.

It was quite grand. Though all the restaurants seemed very corporate and chain like in the area.

As we crossed the Lez River we came across the most distinctive building, which the Missus called "the White Cactus".

   This "interesting" building is L’Arbre Blanc designed by Japanese Architect Sou Fujimoto. It drew the Missus and I like moths to a flame! We didn't quite know if we liked it or hated it. And it seems many feel the same way, see the comments for this article. Still, once you see it, you'll never forget it. In fact, after I got home, I watched an episode of House Hunters International. I really don't watch a whole lot of television, but I will watch some episodes of HHI to see cities that we've visited. And guess what? It was taken in Montpellier (and the couple was moving from San Diego)! Plus, Adrian Leeds cracks me up. Anyway, one of the properties shown was a unit in the white spiked bladder stone porcupine!

We headed back thru Place de Thessalie.

And Polygone Shopping Center.

Where we stopped by the madhouse of a pharmacy for some eye solution.

And then back to the apartment where we took a break. For dinner, much like our last two getaway meals in Paris, I wanted something a bit more traditional.  A Boullion or Bouchon would seem like a good bet. So, of course I went to this older Montpellier post from Edible Reading, where I saw a mention of a place named Le Bouchon Saint Roch. I went ahead and made a reservation for 7pm online before we left on our trip. Of course, 7pm is almost an ungodly, early dining time....and would severely interrupt the heart of "apero time" in France!

And of course, when we arrived the place was empty.

The dining room was decorated in what we might call almost "stereotypical brasserie le cochon" as piggy posters and art was everywhere. And of course, the red checkered tablecloths and all that....

The two folks working were quite cheerful! As with the name, the restaurant's menu leaned Lyonnaise.

The Missus wanted some Escargot (9,€ ). I remember those days when the Missus (thought) She hated escargot; until our first meal in Dijon. She's been on the escargot wagon even since then!

This was decent; though we prefer a stronger garlicky-olive oil-parsley flavor. You know, because half of the enjoyment is dipping your bread into the drippings. The gastropods were on the chewy side, but acceptable. The plain salad had a decent Balsamic dressing.

We also got the "Oeuf Poché à la Crème de Morilles, Parmesan et Ses Toasts" (11,€), whew talk about a mouthful! Basically poached egg in morel creme with Parmesan and toast.

That sauce with a bit of cheese on the toasts was really nice. Good earth-slightly sweet mushroom tones, perfectly salty, the egg added an additional layer of creaminess and egginess to the dish.

We got a third starter, the Bone Marrow (10,€).

Man, this was so creamy and savory. Perfect amount of salt and the toasts and even more bread was needed to finish this!

About this time folks started arriving; several groups of students....most of them got burgers; go figure!

The Missus and I split a main; the "Quenelle de Brochet Sibilia, Sauce Nantua, Riz, Poêlée de Légumes" (19,€). The Missus really enjoyed the Quenelle we had when visiting Lyon so we ordered this.

The darkness of the Nantua sauce threw us off a bit; but it was pretty tame with regards to seafood tones. The quenelle was a bit tougher than we like but was quite mild in flavor as is typical. The rice was on the hard side and the cooked vegetables was actually "légumes trop cuits" and really mushy.

By this time the more "French" crowd started arriving.

I've been enjoying having cheese for dessert and ordered the Saint Marcellin (7,€ ), the menu said it came with "olive oil" which I thought would be interesting for dessert.

Saint Marcellin has a somewhat fruity-nutty flavor and this was no exception; along with being so creamy. Along with the olive oil, there was a Balsamic glaze which helped things along. I'm thinking this might actually be a nice starter.

As we left the place started filling up. This was a nice meal and a great way to end our time in Montpellier.

Le Bouchon Saint Roch
14 Rue du Plan d'Agde
34000 Montpellier, France

We slept in the next morning, then I decided to get a croissant to have with my last coffee in the apartment. We had also become converts to the French way of traveling on the TGV.....having a sandwich or something similar for lunch on the train.

We had passed an interesting looking Boulangerie/Pâtisserie several times during our walks and decided to stroll on over.

The name of the shop is Maison Bonnaire.

And along with the usual baguettes and croissants, the window had many temptations, the eclairs looked especially tempting.

We got a croissant and two tartes for the train ride and headed back to the apartment.

  The croissant was dark, flaky, and light. But it really lacked the butteriness I like and was on the dry side.

Maison Bonnaire
45 Rue Saint-Guilhem
34000 Montpellier, France

I did a final cleaning and bade the apartment farewell right at 11am.

We took the short stroll to the train station. Our train wasn't leaving until 1pm so we had some time to kill. Like much of the architecture in the city, the Montpellier Saint-Roch Station has an interesting design.

We found seats and relaxed, grabbing some coffee from the outlet of Paul in the station and bought some water from Casino. Soon enough we were on our train.

We had the Tartes which were pretty good, the one with the roasted tomatoes and tapenade was the better of the two. But the crusts were crisp and flaky.

And this did a good job of holding us over.

Perhaps we stayed in Montpellier a day longer than we should have; but I enjoyed myself.

But now I was looking forward to our next stop. Carcassonne!

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[kat]

what a great city!

[Kenneth]

Man, the bakeries are one thing I love about Europe. Even the small towns usually have some fantastic baked goods. Why oh why can't we have this in America? It's nice to read your reports of new cities.

[Kirk]

I really enjoyed my visit Kat!

I think it's that bakeries are a central part of society and plays a real day to day role at least in France. It is deemed a "right" to have access to decent baguettes. Here not so much. I always appreciate your comments Kenneth!

[Soo]

Another cool building! I wonder if those concrete slabs are earthquake safe as they don't seem to have any support.

[Kirk]

Glad I'm not around to find out Soo! ;O)