Le Flore - Sète

We walked by this place and because it was pouring rain, we decided to give it a try. We sat upstairs since the view was better and the seating more comfortable. The waitress did her best but just looked bored, tired and not interested. The food came in big portions but was not as described and generally did not look fresh. Also the whole place did not give you a feeling of cleanliness. Cannot say I was happy with my experience here.

On a one day stop in Sete, after wandering around the attractions, found a great place for a light lunch, as we were looking forward to our last meal at Jacques on board the ship that night. However, I managed to find yet another variety of fish soup and this time, the waitress instructed us both in the correct way to eat it. Also tried fromage blanc with honey, something I hadn't found for a very long time. Loved the combination of the fizzy-tasting, yoghurt-like fromage with the very strong tasting honey – the equivalent here would probably be Ironbark honey. Henk had the fish soup (I think he's hooked and the Calamari with chips in real newspaper. All this washed down with a nice French Chardonnay! Lovely leisurely lunch with people watching to boot! Nothing was hurried, just a very nice long lunch! However, we must tell you a little more about Sete! Pink umbrellas! Fish Soup! Markets! Great place that we have somehow always managed to miss in previous travels around the area. It is a port town (obviously and is fairly close to Carcassonne (150 km or so , so although there were options to go to Carcassonne and countryside areas, we explored Sete and were very glad we did. The internal canals give the city a unique feel and it has a very long, mostly pedestrian main street lined with shops. Our perpetual quest to find WMF champagne bottle openers proved fruitless (they make great Christmas presents; sorry everyone but we did manage to find a kitchen shop that stocked my favourite, nearly unobtainable kitchen gizmo. Not going to say what it is, yet! Our overriding impression of the place was a cheerful, friendly city with streets and windows hung with flowers and flags. There were pink umbrellas hanging above one of the streets for Cancer Prevention Day and it was very striking when seen against the whitewashed walls. A visit to the local markets was great fun, as the French (in fact most European produce markets that we have found have the endearing habit of plonking wine and beer stalls, sit down bar areas, café areas and sundry other eateries and sampling areas right in the middle of their produce markets. It only gets a bit unsuccessful when the bar area is next door to a fish stall, which confuses the nose a bit. More wanderings through the town, then back for an early sitting at Jacques on board the ship. The Bouillabaise soup was absolutely wonderful and this time, I took some photos. Crepe suzette to follow. I might try my hand at the fish soups one day but I don't aspire to master those crepes (excuse to go out for dinner... ..

Very slow service. We had to keep asking for the entree and people who came before us were served well before we were. My steak meal was supposed to come with chips and salad but there was no salad. The meat was very underdone and I had to send it back twice but my husbands meat was ok. They gave us a free beer in compensation. The staff appeared overworked. We on,y had a short time in Sete and hardly any time was left for sightseeing after the long delay in this restaurant.

I will just list what was good: sparkling water, fresh baguette, tasty chips. Sangria Maison tasteless, the piece of beef like a shoe sole and the moules had a strange taste. Did not have the impression was a clean place. We did it for you, so you don 't have to repeat the experience.

Nous etions 3 pour dejeuner un jour de paella faite maison. LA paella est excellente, le service tres bon. Nous avons donc passé un bon moment sous la chaleur du mois de juillet.