La Bastide Saint-Antoine  

Jacques Chibois has made his nest in Provence unlike anyone else. He has built a truly Southern establishment - the annex includes three suites, an apartment, and one luxury room in contemporary tones. A more serene Chibois celebrates olive oil and truffles and has opened his Relais & Chateaux to craftsmen and growers; he knows the art of painting with a gentle brush. Girolles and green beans on ice with foie gras and summer truffles; sauteed cèpes, eggplant coulis, and almond milk; pidgeon cooked pink, mousseron mushrooms and white beans with tomato; langoustines fricassee with spiced rice; or Limousin veal cut and vegetable puree; finally cocoa sorbet with anis and banana marmelade with lime... make the case for a confident Mediterranean cuisine, surely, but primarily light and constructed, acceptable to the most people possible, not simply the elitists. No jarring blows or distractions, but a straight culinary line and an exact sense of the place where the food has been conceived.... The team is solid, the way well laid out, and this Relais & Chateau polishes its Provençal happiness with terrace-garden, veranda, boutique, library, flowering bougainvilleas... and the Esterel and the sea in the distance.