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Caravelle (La)

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Liam Hetherington
Liam Hetherington
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4 out of 5
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A Great Set Menu - with Ecrevisses!

A Great Set Menu - with Ecrevisses!

I had a fantastic meal at la Caravelle - despite not knowing all the words on the menu!

This restaurant / cocktail bar can be found in Place Constantin,a triangular space sandwiched in between the marshmallow stripes of the Thermes de Constantin, and the embankment of the River Rhone on Quai Marx Dormoy. Upstream is the Actes Sud complex; downstream the Musée Réattu. I think this was reflected in the clientele, who added a mix of cosmopolitan artistic individuals to the tourists. Though there is a dining room inside, past the bar, only one couple sat in there; everyone else crowded on to the sunshade-shaded tables outside, to enjoy the early afternoon sunlight. I may have arrived at the wrong time (13:15). I think quite a number of people had arrived just before me, meaning that the one waiter was rushed off his feet. This meant I was waiting some 40 minutes for my starter, but I can't really hold that against him.

The restaurant only has one menu, chalked up on a board. The waiter will bring this to your table. There are not a huge number of options on there, but they range from Gazpacho soup, to local lamb, to ostrich steaks.They are also strong in fish. For the more economical there are some set menus. There is a child's menu for €9.50 featuring smaller portions and fresh fruit. There is a €15 menu which is the house lasagne, dessert of the day, and a glass of wine / cup of coffee. I went for the €18 menu. This was a starter of Soupe de Moules, entree of Poulet d'écrevisses, and then the day's dessert. I fully admit that I did not know what 'écrevisses' meant - it was not a word I recognised, and it did not feature in the back of my guidebook. I could have asked the waiter (indeed, I had a conversation with him about it afterwards), but somehow that would be cheating. So I ordered the 'chicken'. To go with this I asked for a glass of orange juice. This added an extra €3 to my €18 lunch, but the waiter also brought out a tall carafe of tapwater for me without asking. Now, if I'd ordered water I'd have got a bottle of mineral water, costing at least €2.00, so this worked out as being pretty economical!

The Soupe de Moules (pronounced 'moo-les', rather than 'mools' apparently) was Mussel Soup. I had not sampled the Moules et Frites I had seen advertised throughout Provence, so I thought this was my chance. However, for those who like neither the look or texture of shellfish this would be a safe option. The saffron yellow soup that I was served (in a surprisingly large bowl) was well blended. It tasted seafood-y, with a salty tang, but there were no slimy blobs lurking at the bottom. On the whole it had the thickness of a potato, and the optional croutons (small round slices of toasted bread rather than cubes) were a nice touch.

If my starter was yellow, my main course was red. And I soon discovered what 'écrevisses' were! My plate came out - a cake of rice, a very thick chicken breast (I wonder where they get their poultry from?), a red mariniere-style ragu... and three whole crayfish, each a deep beef-tomato red. Ecrevisse means crayfish. This was an unexpected - and pleasant - surprise. Before long I was tearing open the shells by hand and winkling out the meat within. A lack of a napkin was a bit of an issue, but I continued to peel away at the crayfish, sucking my fingers clean of the ragu with satisfied slurps. Here was I, sat out in the sun by a Roman-era ruin, eating messily and enjoyably, the way a true Frenchman would. (Or so I thought; it was only after I had finished that I saw a local tucking into his crayfish, wielding his knife and fork like a pro to expertly separate the carapace from the meat within...).

After this, the dessert of the day was pretty straightforward, a cooling creamy glass of pannacotta topped with pieces of candied pineapple.

Overall my meal was €21 (£17.50). You can certainly get cheaper lunches in Arles, but I wonder if you can get better. I would certainly recommend La Caravelle. And a word of advice - if you don't know what something on the menu is, ask the waiter!

From journal Antique Arles

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