Or, to be precise, the garden comes to Colette! The garden in question is the Jardin de la Piboule, in Cogolin. Between the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif des Maures, a committed market gardener cultivates fruit and vegetables in harmony with nature. This is the produce that is found in the kitchens of the Colette restaurant, where the chef and his team work with love and precision.
"To grow one's garden
… is a political act of legitimate resistance." These words of the French writer, farmer and environmentalist Pierre Rabhi summarise well the philosophy of these gardens where the gardener is an ‘assistant’ of nature, not its would-be master, as only nature has the "… Power to start life from nothing". So, it is with humility (but great skill!) that Yann Ménard feeds his land with horse manure, crushed wood, green fertiliser and even oyster shells to compensate for the acidity of the soil. He sows crops by hand and uses a horse-drawn plough. Respecting biodiversity, he intersperses his crops with trees, meadows and beautiful rows of flowers.
Teamwork
This is what binds this market gardener and the chefs with whom he works. Here, we walk, we look, we touch, we smell. And we choose according to the seasons. In this beautiful autumn, pumpkin, turnip, carrot, chard, quince and pear are all as much temptations for gourmets as they are inspiration for chefs. And in the Colette kitchen, having returned from these gardens of Eden, we use our imagination. We balance and savour in advance the new menu for the coming season. Already, the magic springs to life between the produce fresh from the ground and the five senses of the chef.
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Restaurant Colette, a unique setting, a singular signature and a modern concept
