La Petite Fontaine

La Petite Fontaine is in the heart of Carpentras, France and very close to a small fountain of course. It was previously named La Cuisine de Pierre until chef Sébastien Royer took it over and renamed it in 2007.

The interior is very nicely decorated with warm colours, fresh and clean with charming bright paintings upon the walls and Barry White gently singing in the background. The tables set up outside looked very pleasant, but we thought it may be cooler inside as it was a very hot week. We had fresh bread on the table and a jug of iced tap water.

We had previously been to this restaurant a few days earlier and it was so good we decided to return as a ‘treat’ on our last evening in Carpentras. I pushed the boat out and paid extra for my starter of foie gras. It was wonderfully tasting, quite sweet, smooth and creamy. This was served with a few thin slices of dark toasted rye bread, a little salad, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a small pile of rock salt.

My steak fillet was cooked very nicely – medium – no fat or gristle. Herbed potato slices were served along with a whole roasted shallot still with the skin on, which was unusual, and roasted baby cherry tomatoes which were lovely and sweet.

The ‘Assiette’ of desserts was a plate containing each one of the restaurant’s desserts! I had to pay extra for this too but boy, was it worth it! A very tangy lime sorbet with chunks of lime peel in it, this was very light and juicy and melted straight away when I put it in my mouth/Lemon mousse was like whipped cream, again very light and creamy with a very nice sort of bittersweet orange slice with peel on it on top – I’m guessing this may have been a slice of kumquat/Chocolate fondant dusted with icing sugar was a miniature version of the one I’d had there before but unfortunately lacking the hot oozing liquid chocolate in the centre. It was still very pleasant though and the sponge was light and fresh/Crème Brûlée which was gorgeous, a nice hard crust of burnt sugar with a creamy layer beneath/Strawberry tiramasu – not as we know tiramasu, this was more of a runny panna cotta with a sponge base and berry compote on top, it was very nice though/A mille feuille type dessert with strawberries and a thick custard. I think my favourites were the Crème Brûlée, lemon mousse and tiramasu, although they were all extremely delicious!

We washed all this down with a bottle of red wine from Beaumes de Venise, a southern part of the Rhône area which we had passed through on our bikes.

A review of some of the sweets and desserts I enjoyed during my stay in Carpentras can be seen here.

I would love to visit this area again sometime and if I do then I shall dine at La Petite Fontaine without hesitation.

Living life, loving cake

A x