Restaurant la Cooperative, Hotel Riberach, 66720 Belesta

The big culinary event of 2010 in the environs of Estagel, Pyrenees-Orientales, was the opening of a gastronomic restaurant, of which there aren’t too many in the neighbourhood, in the Hotel Riberach in Belesta.

The restaurant is called La Coopérative and opened in October 2010.  I went there with friends on a Sunday lunchtime to find the dining room almost full, mostly of people who looked as if they had come up from Perpignan. As there’s not a great deal to do in Belesta other than visit the Museum in the Chateau, it will probably become a destination restaurant,  apart from the clients from the 18 room hotel.  Plus there are not too many locals from the neighbouring villages who will pay the relatively high prices that are being charged!  There were 2 menus at 29 and 52 euros that day, plus a la carte, and I chose the latter menu which turned out to be an excellent choice:  5 courses including cheese and dessert, not counting the amuse-bouche of pumpkin soup.   The starter was home-made foie gras followed by a cassolette of winter vegetables.  The main course was a first class fillet steak with sauteed garlic potatoes,  and then came the cheese cart which must have had over 30 different varieties of cheese and the waitress knew exactly what they all were.  But the desserts were visually the most impressive – .they are made by the chef’s wife, and are all presented on a large plateau in beautifully decorated little towers of icing .  Each one is unique, so once a particular one has been chosen, that’s that – there are no replicas in the kitchen.

But the best was yet to come – the wine menu.  The owners, both architects, are really into wine and their wine card offers a selection of extraordinary great wines from all over France.  As you come into the restaurant many of them are stored  in racks behind the bar – and the labels make really impressive reading.   Fortunately though they also offer a selection of local wines, which have been carefully selected and are offered at acceptable prices. The emphasis on wine makes sense as  the hotel has been built in the old Cave Coopérative and the attractive bedrooms are actually in the wine vats,  which is a really original concept.

There are plans for a spa to be built in the hotel, which would probably attract some local trade, but there’s no definite date for this as yet.

So if you’re looking for a restaurant for a special celebration this is the one for you – excellent food, a very welcoming staff and great wines if you’re that way inclined!