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This was my second visit to Bras (formerly Michel Bras), a restaurant that has achieved many accolades, including three Michelin stars. It is in a remarkably isolated spot, at the top of a hillside in the Aubrac area, with some farms but not a lot else anywhere near. It is a good three hour drive from Toulouse, and more from Montpelier, which are the nearest significant airports. At least the drive itself up from the south (up the A75) is impressive, including the spectacular Millau viaduct over the river Tarn, a truly remarkable engineering feat. The scenery on the drive is certainly very pretty, but bear in mind that it is chilly at this elevation even in August, so dress accordingly.
The Bras building (which includes a number of rooms at which you can stay), built in 1992, is certainly striking architecturally, and I suspect has a “love it or hate it” effect for most. It is low slung, the grey stone in some way fitting given the bleak hillside location, which is often shrouded in mist. It looks very modern even today, and the rooms are well appointed, with terraces and generous bathrooms. There is a bar area in an observation deck with fine views over the surrounding countryside, and the dining room is on the other side of the building past the reception. It looks a lot better in the sunshine, with light streaming into the dining room. The little miniature stream with flowers that separates the corridor from the dining room seems to me a very pretty effect. Tables are generously spaced with high quality linen and tableware.
The restaurant is open from April to October. Sebastian Bras was running the kitchen when we visited; I had the impression that his father Michel, who wasn’t around, was generally in a more background role these days (Michel was born in 1946, so was 64 at the time of this visit).
We ate the vegetable tasting menu at €136 per person, while the “balade” tasting menu was €179. To give a sense of a la carte prices, the gargouillou starter was €44, while prawns with orange and fennel cost €70.
The wine list is extensive, with conventional mark-up levels at the low end of the list, but some relative bargains at the top end. For example the simple Albert Mann Muscat 2009 was listed at €48 for a wine that costs about €15 in the shops, yet Cuvee Frederich Emile 2001 was listed at €118 for a wine that will set you back around €105 retail. As another example, Mersault “Charmes” Domaines des Comtes Lafon 1996 was €255 compared to a retail price of around €240.
As we looked over the menus we were offered egg flavoured with aubergine and capers, which did little for me (4/10) though a cep tart was much better, with good pastry and high quality mushrooms (8/10). Bread rolls, although made in the kitchens, did not impress me that much in terms of texture (6/10 at best) but flatbread flavoured with coriander and other spices was interesting and well made (8/10).
Nibbles presented on spoons were an oxtail consommé with vegetables, which had a very clear and well-made jelly, a pleasant small piece of freshwater fish with carrot, chive and thyme, and bulgar and cucumber (7/10).
The gargouillou is the most famous dish here, a prettily presented plate with dozens of vegetables, wild herbs and flowers, each cooked optimally (many sautéed in a butter sauce) and offered with parsley oil. This was very impressive, the vegetables and herbs of the highest quality, carefully cooked, the effect light and the presentation lovely (10/10).
This was followed by a simpler but also impressive dish of haricot beans and peas, skimmed milk and a pressed nut biscuit giving a crumb-like texture contrast. Again the vegetables were impeccable (10/10).
The next dish brought things down to earth: grilled aubergine with basil, an intense tomato paste and ultra-salty anchovies. I didn’t think this dish worked that well, as the aubergine was for me not particularly great and its taste was overwhelmed by the saltiness of the anchovies (5/10).
Sweet onion slow roasted and served with “liquorice” powder (actually a sweet and savoury mix of olives, Demerara sugar and ground almonds) was much better; the onions were extremely butter and sweet in texture, served alongside some excellent almonds (9/10).
Next was pumpkin with raisins steeped in vinegar, with almonds and sorrel. While again the almonds were of terrific quality, the pumpkin was rather dry (at best 6/10).
A further sweet onion from Lezignan offered with truffles and olive oil cream was strangely salty (4/10).
In order to be sure we were doing justice to the kitchen, we ordered a supplemental non-vegetable dish, prawns with orange and fennel. This was very good, the prawns having good flavour and being tender, the dressing working well with them (9/10).
The aligot (mash potato with cheese) was as stringy and tasteless as I recall from last time; perhaps this is a French childhood thing that it is difficult for foreigners to appreciate; it appeared to lack taste almost entirely. I find this difficult to mark at all.
A warm biscuit encasing red fruits flavoured with lemon and honey was very enjoyable, the biscuit encasing high quality mixed red fruits, topped with an ice cream made from a local flower (8/10).
Finally, little ice cream cornets had assorted flavours: fig and orange, chocolate ganache and mint, blueberry sorbet and ginger, peach verbena and honey and a caramel ice cream with milk jam; these were all capably made (comfortably 8/10).
Service tonight was much warmer than I recall it on my previous visit. Staff were friendly and topping up was skilful.
Overall, while I enjoyed my meal a fraction more than my previous visit, I was surprised by the number of dishes that seemed to either have a fairly apparent problem (such as over-saltiness) or were just rather dull. In between there were some real highlights, and from these I can at least appreciate how Bras gained such a strong reputation, with some very clean flavours. Yet after this meal I see no justification for changing my original overall score, given the inconsistency we experienced.
Below are my notes from a visit in May 2004.
This is quite a trek from just about anywhere, about 4,000 feet up on the plateau of Aubrac, perhaps 50km north of a town called Rodez (this itself is over 100 miles north west of Montpelllier, though Ryanair do fly to Rodez). Set on top of a hilltop, the Michel Bras premises are a grey granite and glass modern block which are not an advertisement for the sensitivity of modern architecture. There are some amusing notes in the room about this “blending in” to this environment, but short of using napalm there is not much more that the architect could have done to blend in less well to the hilltop landscape. The building is nonetheless striking, and has a great view over the surrounding hills and meadows. Bear in mind if staying to bring a sweater, as even in mid May when the temperature was 20C down at sea level, there was a bitter wind blowing at this height. Everything in the complex is ultra-modern, with the dining room being three sides of floor to ceiling glass, the other side separated from the kitchen and a corridor a little stream, over which tiny bridges cross into the dining room. This is quite effective, and the view does the rest. In daytime you see meadows of dandelions and little hilltop farms of beef and sheep, which no doubt the European taxpayer is subsiding heavily.
The menu is a mixture of things that draw on local produce and history, and there is a strong emphasis on vegetables e.g. a starter that is just a series of vegetables, simply cooked. The quality of the ingredients is very high, and this is a good job since Michel Bras seems to have almost eschewed sauces altogether. The wine list is extensive at 38 pages, mostly French but with a couple of pages of mostly excellent foreign wines. Mark-ups are 3-4 times retail i.e. modest by Paris standards though a little high for London. A glass of champagne was Louis Roederer NV at EUR 18, which would make even Gordon Ramsey wilt, and yet it was served in a small glass that was only half-filled. This could only have been about 60 ml i.e. half a glass. At what point did it become acceptable to charge this much and then rip the customer off on the portion as well?
Service was generally good, with only minor topping-up problems (at these prices they can afford plenty of waiters). The kitchen is partially visible from the dining room and is vast, with a humidity-controlled wine cellar next to it. We started with amuse guele of a mushy egg cooked in its shell and runny, served in its shell with balsamic vinegar, with three sticks made of cereal. Pleasant though hardly anything special (4/10). Much better was a little tarte of ceps and bacon, with delicate pastry and very good mushrooms (8/10). Next up was a series of nibbles each served on a silver spoon: a rabbit consommé, a radish cream topped with shredded radish, and a little finely chopped flesh of seafood e.g. scallops. These were around 4/10 also. Bread was slices of either sourdough (8/10), country bread (8/10) or cereal (8/10 also). There was also a little thin crisp bread in the Italian style, that was much less interesting.
I started with two slices of foie gras terrine (fois gras is a speciality of the area), each served between two thin wafers of crisp, savoury potato chip. Around the plate were a few pieces of fruit e.g. orange, apple and also a little fruit chutney. The foie gras was very good indeed, the terrine silky smooth and having deep flavour of foie gras (9/10).
Stella had green asparagus, served hot, topped with a foam of vegetables flavoured with black truffles. The quality of the asparagus was superb, cooked just right (9/10).
For the main course I tried a fillet of beef from the local area Aubrac, which was cooked very rare and served in a vast chunk. Next to the beef were little matchsticks of turnip, a little wilted spinach and two sweet onions, with just a few small slices of black truffle. The vegetables were of the highest standard; indeed the turnip and spinach were magnificent, and yet the dish cried out for some kind of sauce or just some of the meat juices. As it was you just had a hunk of meat to chew on with a few (admittedly fine) vegetables, the kind of thing that is more English than French. Surely it makes no sense to spurn the use of sauces: what happened to all those lovely cooking juices for the beef? I can give this 8/10 yet to me it seemed as if it was too dry.
Stella had wild salmon, cooked “a cuit” i.e. just cooked through but not a second more. This was topped with shreds of cabbage and accompanied with a few wild mushrooms and a smear of avocado. There was a little set of sticks of chives and flat-leaf parsley garnished with a mountain wild flower. Again the ingredients were of the highest standard, and again the dish could have done with more than the smear of meat jus that was offered (8/10).
Cheese draws heavily from the local area e.g. the local hard cheese was served at four different ages. There were two kinds of Roquefort, a strong version and a very nice sweet version that as less salty than normal Roquefort. A few conventional cheese made up the numbers e.g. a St Nectaire. The cheeses were in excellent condition (9/10). They were served with a raisin bread.
For dessert I had chocolate fondant with a very liquid centre, and a scoop of cardamom ice cream that worked well with the chocolate, although it was already melting slightly when served (8/10). Stella’s dessert had vanilla cream in between very sweet tuiles encrusted with pink sugar, interleaves with brioche ice cream that really was rather tasteless. This dish did not work for me, with the bland ice cream and the over-sweet tuiles (4/10).
A little “aligot” was then served on a hot plate. This is a local delicacy of the local cheese, mashed potato and some garlic (hardly noticeable). This was odd, tasting rather like the tasteless cheese that you sometimes get on mediocre pizzas, being stringy in texture. Plate after plate was returned untouched from almost every table.
Petit fours were a let down. A biscuit base had coffee cream (5/10) while chocolate ices, both white and dark chocolate, were watery (2/10). A lemon crisp was much better (8/10) but almond paste on a stick was dull (5/10). Two lollipops were certainly different, one made from red fruits and one with banana and pineapple. A couple of pots of sweetened milk were served, along with a chocolate mousse of raisins steeped in cream. Overall maybe 4/10 for the petit fours.
Overall I found the cooking to have the very highest standard of ingredients, with strong technical execution. Yet the abandonment of the sauce, that great triumph of French cuisine, seems to me to be a loss. I can admire the technique, but somehow I didn’t really enjoy it. As a French general said of the charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War “C’est manifique, mais il n’est pas la guerre”. Similarly, I can admire the technique, but I don’t have to enjoy the experience.
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