Last year, while in Provence, I heard from Le Moulin de Valaurie as a jewel to discover. A former mill not only famous for its beautiful location, but also for its gastronomic restaurant. Therefore, this summer I decided to come here and discover Le Moulin de Valaurie.
The Scene
Le Moulin de Valaurie is a 4-star hotel nestled in the heart of the Drôme Provençale, located in the Rhone-Alps region of France among vineyards, sunflowers, and lavender fields. On the outskirts of the medieval village of de Valaurie, this former mill, built of stone and lovingly restored by its owners, welcomes you in an enchanting rural setting.
As we walked into this stunning property on a summer day, we noticed the recently renovated entrance. There, I met the talented young chef of Le Moulin de Valaurie, Chef Riccardo Berto. We had an opportunity to sit down with Chef Berto and discuss the menu and creative process behind this renowned restaurant.
Q&A with Chef Riccardo Berto
Maria: What makes your restaurant successful?
Chef Berto: For me, it is all about quality: focus on the quality of the food itself, not only a good presentation, it goes way beyond that. A chef’s work is to look for good products and I like to have all under control, that’s why we use our own vegetable from our garden. Even our meat provider knows all about his products and this way we can offer quality at our restaurant.
Maria: How do you see your chances to be awarded a Michelin star?
Chef Berto: I would love to get a star for our restaurant, but I am not chasing that. We are now concentrated to get better as I only started here at Le Moulin de Valaurie one and a half year ago. We are now focused on delivering excellent work. We already made a huge investment in our restaurant and we try to do our own thing–not just looking for the star. I have seen Michelin star representatives come here a couple of times and they know us, we are trying to improve our cuisine all of the time.
Maria: What is the creative process behind your dishes?
Chef Berto: For us, everything comes from single products. I like to go around in Montelimar, go to the market, talk to people, and when they have something to show me or a specific product, then my team and I brainstorm about it. This is followed by a lot of tasting, studying, and this is how a dish comes together. The idea may come from a specific fish, meat, or vegetable from our garden. It is often the vegetables that give me the idea to create a new plate. I often start with the garniture, so vegetables are quite important in our creations.
Maria: Why did you choose Le Moulin de Valaurie?
Chef Berto: Because of the vegetable garden here at Le Moulin de Valaurie. We have a beautiful park and I love nature and vegetables but yes, it was the garden. When I came here, I immediately fell in love.
Maria: Can you tell us about your favorite creation on the menu?
Chef Berto: We try not to have favorites, we change our menu once every month. Our guests come here to try something new, to enjoy new combinations. My team and I enjoy our work, have fun, and keep our standards high.
Today, we will prepare our most recent dish that we put on our menu “beef with anchovies.” As I am from Venice, I’ve been eating fish all my life. Most of the time, I like to mix products like meat and fish and we like to introduce fruits like peach or apricot in our creations. Our guests should have fun when eating; they should experience a surprise feeling when eating our creations.
Maria: What would you like for your guests to remember from the dining experience?
Chef Berto: The compliment I like the most, is when they say “the taste was good”. We are very lucky to work with incredible products here, we strive to respect the flavor of each product, then we like to mix things up and have more fun, to give a little twist but only after respecting each of the ingredients we used.
Maria: You are inspired by the local and seasonal ingredients of the region. What ingredients do you see yourself working with the most?
Chef Berto: I force myself to use the local and seasonal ingredients, in fact, we use almost 90% vegetables on the menu. We take what it is available in our garden, for example, we like to cook eggplant when they are available. There is a season for everything: for the fish, meat, and vegetables. Each product tastes the best during their top season. This is why our menu changes often as it is seasonal.
Maria: Our readers enjoy local tips from chefs. What three places do you recommend for visitors to see?
Chef Berto: There is much to see here in the region, but I would suggest:
- Pont de Arc, I love to go there to kayak or canoe
- The beautiful forest, we have some local artisans that like to pick mushrooms for us that we introduce in our cuisine
- Of course, Le Moulin de Valaurie…
The Cuisine
We were invited to enter the kitchen and meet the culinary team: Chef Berto and Marco from Italy and Matthew from Brittany, France. It was great to see the preparations before dinner service. On that evening, they were preparing for thirty guests and were quite busy putting together their creations.
Chef Berto prepared in front of us “Beef Aubrac Saint Gilloise, garden rosemary, anchovies of the Mediterranean, olives of Nyons”, one of the most recent creations from his current menu.
It was a real pleasure to meet Chef Riccardo Berto and the rest of the team at Le Moulin de Valaurie.
Le Moulin de Valaurie, Chemin du Moulin – Le Foulon, 26230 Valaurie Website
Disclaimer: I was graciously hosted by Le Moulin de Valaurie. As always, opinions are my own.
