La Villa Madie - Cassis
During daytime, these tables would have a fantastic view of the Mediterranean sea
Rating: 19/20
Where: Cassis, France
When: Dinner for 2 on 23 March 2023
Cost: Tasting menu 280-350 Euro, Wine pairing 175 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Superb Provencal seafood cuisine
La Villa Madie is a three Michelin star restaurant in southern Provence, about 30 minutes outside of Marseille, and situated right on the Mediterranean sea in the small town of Cassis. The building has a beautiful terrace that presumably has amazing views of the ocean. Unfortunately, during our dinner in March there was only solid darkness to admire, and it was too cold to be outside (except for smoke breaks, apparently). Since the indoor tables have the same view, I'd suggest coming for lunch, or even better, during the early summer months when the setting sun is sure to make for a lovely backdrop.
The interior of the restaurant was modern, with white table cloths and white roses on the tables, but otherwise sporting a minimal decor. The menus were only available in French, but every staff member spoke very good English. The service was great overall, for example everyone was being extra helpful by repeating the dish descriptions so that I could take better notes (all inevitably remaining inaccuracies are as usual solely my fault). The chef made his rounds near the end of our dinner, and seemed genuinely cheerful.
There were two tasting menus to choose from, six courses for 280 Euro or nine courses for 350 Euro. One dish (the turbot) appeared on both menus, but otherwise there was no overlap. We went for the longer menu, and also ordered a wine pairing. Consisting mostly of French wines, the pairing contained pretty decent wines that went quite well with the food. Two beverages were served in black glasses that allowed for the guess-the-wine games that I'm unfortunately really bad at.
After a shot of cold tea serving as a palate cleanser, our dinner started with a collection of small bites that were served in two rounds. The first round was exclusively based on seafood, which foreshadowed the main focus of the tasting menu.
A long silver spoon contained some raw shrimp that had been dusted with arabica coffee powder. The shrimp were fresh, a bit salty, a bit sweet, and the coffee (maybe thankfully) ended up being very light in flavor. Pleasant enough 16. A small cube of tuna from Cassis had been marinated and wound up having a pronounced flavor of anise - unusual and interesting 16. The spoon that the tuna came on found a second use in eating a seasonal salad that was dressed with a bonito cream sauce. The salad tasted fresh, and consisted mostly of salad leaves and some radishes (turnips maybe?). The addition of pine nuts made the dish slightly nutty. With its excellent sauce, this salad was deceptively rustic, and my favorite among the amuse bouches 18. Two pieces of seaweed formed a “sandwich” with sea bass roe on the inside. The supposedly crispy seaweed was unfortunately a bit soft, but otherwise this dish did a great job at evoking the sea - salty and full of seafood flavor 17. Finally, a cracker filled with olives and topped with a sliver of anchovy was served with a caramelized onion mousse. This cracker pillow was not 100% crispy either (but at least more than the seaweed). The flavors here were the strongest yet among the appetizers, which was probably the reason why we were told to eat it last. Anchovy, olives and onions were all very distinctive and bold flavors, but they still made for a good combination 17.
The second round of amuse bouches consisted of two vegetarian nibbles. Warm chickpea fritters were topped with a dollop of garlic sauce. Tasty and very crunchy, but maybe a tad too reminiscent of french fries 17. Better was a small parmesan tarte that contained a light cheese mousse and had shavings of aged parmesan on top. The combination of the light mousse and the stronger tasting aged cheese was quite nice, and the tarte base was excellent as well 18.
A roll of focaccia was served with olive oil from the north of Provence. The room-temperature bread was in the "ok, not great" category, but the olive oil was nicely flavorful 16. Together with the first course we also received a small loaf of warm whole wheat bread, which had a great crunchy crust 18.
The first course of our tasting menu was a “mediterranean salad”, which was really a deconstructed seafood salad. Caviar was placed on top of small cubes of bonito, and the plate also contained potato pillows, bonito dashi and a deep-fried fish tail. This dish was full of strong flavors. The caviar and bonito tasted a bit of lemon - it seemed like the chef wanted to add acidity to the salt and umami tastes already present. The potatoes and fish tail provided a nice texture contrast to the cream and fish. Speaking of the lovely cream, it could have used a tad more salt, but we're nitpicking here 19. The paired beverage was the only non-wine of the evening, a Japanese sake, which was actually a great match.
Course number two was the only dish that appeared on both tasting menus. A filet of turbot was served with an oyster emulsion, a cauliflower leaf, a citrus fruit, and it was dusted with sansho pepper on top. This was a lovely dish, I only wish that it had been served warmer than lukewarm. The fish was surprisingly firm, and went great with the seafoody, lemony sauce, with the pepper adding a subtle kick. The fresh, crunchy vegetables were also very nice, although I thought that some of the lemon pieces were a bit too chunky 19.
Next, a long cracker topped with slices of red mullet was served with an emulsion of uni and tarragon on the side. Emulsions really were a repeating pattern for this kitchen, and seemingly no course was without them - not that I'm complaining, they were all quite good. This uni emulsion sadly didn't taste much of sea urchin - tarragon was the dominant flavor. The dish was overall a bit heavier and earthier than previous courses. Part of the reason was that the mullet had been marinated and therefore was not as "light" as a raw fish would have been. Still a good dish, but a small step down from the excellent first two courses 18.
Garlic soup is one of the traditional dishes of Provence. The following course was an over-the-top rendition of that theme. A beautiful garlic soup was poured over many, many solid ingredients: squid, green peas, sage, black olives, squid ink tortellini, and some bacon. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy, the pasta tasty, the amazing soup full of garlic flavor, only the slightly chewy squid kept this from perfection 19+. The wine pairing, with a bold ten-year-old Provencal white wine, elevated the dish even further (as if that was necessary).
Our first non-seafood course arrived next. A spear of green asparagus was half-wrapped in filo dough and served with a lemon emulsion (naturally) and a black truffle sauce topped with an egg yolk. The sauces were quite nice, but the asparagus didn't taste of much (maybe it was too early in the year?), and the filo dough was felt a bit too deep fried. A nice presentation, but the different flavors didn't gel together very well 16.
Back to seafood: Spanish shrimp came with a shrimp head ice cream, red beets, kumquats and a shrimp emulsion. The different shrimp preparations were already great taken individually but together they created a wonderfully complex, savory dish. The contrast of warm and cold was nice as well, although I wish the shrimp itself had been warmer - but that’s probably hard to do with the ice cream right next it 19+.
The final savory dish of the night was also our second course without any seafood. Veal was rolled up with truffles around veal sweetbreads. Potatoes were also rolled up with truffles. Next to this were some vegetables: broccoli, radicchio, artichokes, and three sauces: a truffle culis, a tarragon emulsion and a veal jus with capers. The vegetables were amazing, full of flavor, crunchy, and would have rated a 20 in my book. Almost as good were the sauces. The rest of the dish though? The veal and sweetbreads were quite dry, not very juicy and lacked flavor (maybe a 14). Even worse was the potato/truffle combination: it was mealy, oily and didn't taste of truffles at all (12 might be generous). This averages out to a weak 15. Clearly, the kitchen does a phenomenal job with its seafood dishes. But the remaining two savory dishes were quite disappointing. Puzzling.
I always make it a point of ordering from the cheese cart when in France. This course, priced at 35 Euro, was pretty good, but a step down from others that I've had at three-star restaurants. The fig and nut bread served with the cheese was very nice, though.
Our first dessert was based on grapefruits. A grapefruit gelée was topped with a saffron ice cream, a thin wafer, and completed with a honey emulsion and a grapefruit and olive oil sauce. This was a lovely dish - I liked the interplay of textures (crunchy, saucy, creamy), flavors (sweet, citrusy), and the freshness and lightness of the dish. Maybe a tad too acidic overall, but definitely a dessert I'd order again 19.
Chocolate was the theme of the second dessert: chocolate wafers, chocolate ice cream and a black garlic (!) sauce. The chocolate was pretty good, and the dish thankfully not too heavy, especially the thin, crispy rolls. Even though it might sound scary at first, the black garlic ended up being pretty subtle, just adding some umami to the dish, but not too much flavor 18. Les Prés d'Eugénie had served us a superior chocolate/black garlic dessert almost a year ago - that one had gone all in on the black garlic flavor.
A collection of mignardises concluded our dinner after almost four hours. A wooden spoon contained a jelly made from almonds, fennel and melon; apparently this was the restaurant's take on a traditional Provoncal Christmas drink. I've never had the drink, but this version was not my cup of tea (figuratively speaking). Too heavy, and kind of slimy in texture, it was the weakest of the petit fours 13. Better, but also not exciting was a cookie seasoned with oranges and orange blossoms 14. My favorite were tartlets filled with a nougat mousse and topped with pistachios. Very sweet, but delicious 16. A chocolate praline had red fruit - fine, but a bit heavy 15. Finally, a tartlet filled with coffee cream was a bit too heavy as well, with the mousse quite thick, and the coffee flavor too light (especially compared to the espresso that I was enjoying at the same time) 15.
Overall: A fantastic dinner inspired by the sea and Provencal cuisine. Great, unhurried, friendly service. The culinary standouts of the evening were clearly the seafood dishes, which were consistently amazing and solidly at a three star level. The kitchen really knows what they are doing here, and with the wide variety of dishes and preparations, the seafood didn't get boring at all. Unfortunately, the non-seafood courses were not as successful, and the main veal course barely scraped into Michelin one-star territory. The amuse bouches and mignardises were also a bit lackluster. But given the consistency and quality of the seafood, still overall a 19.
