Firstly, a couple of things we think are good idea`s that the French do....
- They serve you a free water jug at every meal (even if you just have a starter). This is so you don`t have to drink a coffee or anything and ruin/change the taste of the food. Excellent idea... save the coffee for after you`ve eaten.
- Presentation. Even with the cheapest meal , they will present it beuatifully. Amazingly, it really does make the meal taste better.

Our first snack was in a cafe in medievil Carcassonne itself, and the staff were very friendly. We just needed a coffee and a snack. After our coffee (yeah I know, we should have had that later), we ordered a couple of starters for less than five Euro`s each, and they were amazing - the taste, the presentation.

Near Peyrepertuse we had a pizza each. For around eight Euro`s you get a HUGE pizza absolutley brimming with toppings...totally what you don`t get in England. Amazing taste and baked in a proper oven, with some charcoal left on the base. Brilliant.

On the way back from the Grotte l`Aguzou (heading towards Axat), we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere (as alot seem to be out in Languedoc country). It was amazing. Marie Therese is the owner, waitress, chef, and cleaner - very, very hard working. The menu was set at either 13 or 16 Euro`s for a three course meal. As we were watching our pennies we went for the 13 Euro meal, not expecting too much. As we didn`t know what the dishes said, we played restaurant roullette and picked out things for each other.

When Marie brought the food out we were gobsmacked! Perfectly presented as if we were in a mega-rich restaurant, the taste was sensational of every course - and unbelievable value! My courses were a large grapefruit cut in half, with warmed honey dripped over it. Mandyleigh had a HUGE tasty salad with meats. For the main meal mine turned out to be two large whole fish which were amazing - they looked deep-fried a little but weren`t oily on the inside - so I`m guessing they must have been grilled first. For dessert we both had a selection of `tartes` - different flavoured homemade cakes with custard.

Seriously, I`m not really into food at all, just as happy with some cornflakes as anything else, but the food in France really blew me away. My only negative point on French cooking is that they don`t like spicy food (which I love), so don`t expect too much in the way of curries or chillies.