La Rivière des Vins — Restaurant in Corte

Man make fire! This seems to be the hottest ticket in town at the end of summer 2018, because you'll need to book and because it's all about cooking red meat on the open wood fire. Whether you want to be in the restaurant close to that fire, or out on the warmly lit terrace will depend on the weather. (At 17 degrees both were full!) All that, great service at great pace and a sense of being where it's at, promises much. Generous and tasty terrine to begin with adds to the anticipation. However, the wood-fired meat doesn't quite deliver on all that promise. Perhaps because they ask how you want everything done, rather than cooking as it suits the meat and the fire best. For our meal, three very tasty lamb chops hadn't felt the fire enough to render and crisp their fat properly. While veal escalope (which was a poor choice on reflection but perhaps shouldn't be on the menu at all) was a sort of "protein map" of the heat of the fire; great in parts but too rare in others, then drowned in half a pint of (very tasty) mushroom source, disguising most of what was below. Tarte tatin to finish was spicy and sweet, but chef should step away from the squirty cream! Overall, it was a very nice place to spend an evening, but the main attraction didn't live up to its promise on this...

The good: we had figatellu, pork, and beef (topped with foie gras over toast and mushroom sauce). All were grilled over the open flame masterfully and were especially delicious! The vegetables and potatoes were also very good.

What could be better: the salad should be washed better. It had too much particulate in it (sand? dirt?). Though beautiful, the profiterole portion of the profiterole dessert left something to be desired. It was as if they'd been left in the freezer with the ice cream for some time. We literally needed a knife to cut them. Perhaps something could also be considered to balance the chocolate in the dessert, which was overwhelming. I don't know much about profiteroles, so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about?

In any case, the good (delicious grilled meats and friendly service) definitely outweighs what could be better, so leaving five stars.

PS: sit in the room where the grill is if you have a chance,...

We stopped in after a long day of hiking, hungry and hopeful to find some real Corsican cuisine done at a high level — and to our great pleasure, that is exactly what we found! A truly outstanding meal and for a very reasonable prix fixe. Most tables were reserved and we were grateful to be seated amongst many well-dressed locals as well as other visitors. Classy, well executed, delicious, lovely atmosphere. Not stuffy. All meats done in the wood-fired grill oven.

Very impressive and memorable!...