La récréation — Restaurant in Apt

This review is about as wonderfully lazy as our lunch. It may not help you, but it was surely incredible for me. =)

The experience here is precisely this: You were never looking for a restaurant, but we're invited by an old friend into their home in Provence, cooking for you the most traditional, simple, and fresh recipes using ingredients from the neighboring farmers. It isn't the meal for the most important day of the year - but just another in the long line of wonderfully delicious days of cooking traditional family recipes. This meal ranks as one of the best while being the most low key.

In the slow paced and quaint town of Lourmarin, this restaurant offers an exceptionally paced (ie perfectly leisurely) lunch, without some of the elements you might find at restaurants littered with menus in English. No pat or played out dishes pandering to a tourist crowd - just real delicious food. From the homemade menus on colored paper, wrapped in quilted menu covers, to the hand written cursive.... everything screams authentic and simple, so much so that I believe it drives off the less curious or adventurous Americans. There will be no English menus here. This is where the husband is in the kitchen, and the wife is managing the floor... locals and regulars scatter about their porch for a quick dessert, or an afternoon chat. It is precisely a Provencal meal, including a happily self-aware, slight lack of precision.

The carafe of rosé was phenomenal, and probably the best house wine we had while visiting France. The sun was hot, however, so it went down perfectly. My wife had a wonderful Nicoise Salad, littered with every fresh veggie one could muster, and covered in a chunk light tuna (likely from a friend's canned tuna in the cupboard, but no fresh Ahi steak here) - it was ample enough that she wasn't able to finish, while be raucously happy with it. I had, yet again, a steak tartare - it was as fresh and delicious as I had in all of France. What's disappointing is that this was the only place aware that I might want to continue seasoning it, and they gave me the Worcestershire, Dijon, & Tabasco (for the first and only time in the country), and I had no reason to use it... it was perfectly seasoned, robust, ready to tackle even the most vacuous of palettes - flavor, spices, and freshness all stood out, roundly. The fries were incredible as well... heavily seasoned but without a fried taste. They may, in fact, have been pan baked.

We followed through on this warm day with a Poire Belle Helene (sp?), basically a tasty pear and chocolate sundae. It's my wife's favorite, and although quite distant from the fanciest or best presented, it was just purely delicious. I got a couple scoops of chocolate gelato, a big problem for me now that I remember I love European non cream based ice cream SO much more... and the gelato consumption back in the states is going to be a problem. =) We ended with coffee to help us March back into a sunny day of exploration and hiking of the Luberon.... fueled and calmed, relaxed after the satiating lunch.

La Recrée, or La Récréation, depending on what guide or site you are looking at, is perfect for that "we don't know where to lunch or go to dinner" type of experience. It's as authentic as it gets, and that includes a very non-tourist attracting presentation. Not to say we weren't tourists, and not to say they weren't the most friendly and accommodating people.... but it's not a Michelin restaurant, by all means. If you are looking for pomp and circumstance, it's not here. It was a genuine treat.... forsaking the experience of an over the top production, we just had a delightful, even meal with a very homey feel, with lovely, quaint, and friendly service. ...

Poor meal (everything was over cooked and flacid, somewhat similar to a poor school dinner meal.) and the service was beyond bad. We had different dishes and each dish had the same microwaved vegetables and heavily salted potatoes - Provence is known for beautiful vegetables and it’s insulting to the produce of this area to prepare it in this way. There are many more restaurants to choose from in this area, including the bistrot over the road which is considerably better. If you’re a tourist, forget coming here. The management are unwilling to accept that their food is substandard considering the high price tag. Further, the waiter offered us to try the wine whilst simultaneously insulting us as brits for tasting the wine....

Set back from the street, we sat in the lovely outdoor terrace and enjoyed delightful fusion cuisine with farm to table, seasonal fare. Special attention was made for dietary requirements (in this case gluten and peanut free). The service and atmosphere was convivial and when I left something behind, the staff were warm & gracious (and best of all took care to get it all back to me). If you are looking for the perfect little respite in Lourmarin for a lovely meal (and in the summer on a quiet outdoor terrace) with elevated food, very reasonable prices, and great service, this is a not to miss little gem. If attention to food allergies is a concern, I highly recommend this...