Château de Courban

Once a professional cellist, chef Nicolas Thomas (La Promenade in Verfeuil, La Flibuste in Villeneuve-Loubet) now officiates in the kitchens of Château de Courban, a grand 19C building with a burnt sienna-coloured façade. The restaurant is housed in the property's converted barn, which boasts a beamed ceiling in the regional style. A devotee of fine ingredients, he makes good use of the adjoining vegetable garden and draws on the Burgundy terroir to craft a personalised cuisine that is at times innovative and always meticulous, for instance his confit shoulder of lamb, shimeji mushrooms, potato espuma, finished with a delicious mildly spiced sauce.