Le Formal Les Caves Henri IV

We had luck discovering this restaurant. the hostess was a bit on the rude side when I asked about the menu that she said, no worries I will bring them a menu, but I think she was lost in the translation. eating is amazing, the...Night was great. I feel so happy to have found this restaurant.

We found this restaurant accidentally as we were exploring the streets of Aix. We wondered in before it opened and enquired if pan fried foie gras was on the menu and were delighted to learn it was (as part of their beef dish in their...lunch set menu). Immediately made a reservation and returned at the appointed time. The food served was simply splendid everything was cooked to perfection and service was excellent fine dining style. This is classic French as it should be but with a slight modern touch. The fixed price set menu is excellent value and definitely would recommend this restaurant if you are visiting Aix. Needless to say, we left the restaurant totally satisfied with smiles on our faces!

We were 3 couples and we sat in a nice private room. We took the tasting menu and the experience was fantastic. One after the other the dishes were perfect and delicate. Good and reasonable priced wine to accompany the food. Great!

Not all of the dishes were to our personal tastes, but nothing was really negative about the food. You are restricted in your choosings. Wine was excellent, as was the atmosphere in the caves. On a strong positive note, the owner forbids smoking anywhere in the building, which allows the diners to fully appreciate all the culinary offerings. We made sure to thank them for this wonderful gesture.

In the evenings there are two main “formules” here: either a 3 course menu for 43 Euros or a 7 course one for 49, which seems to argue irresistibly in favour of the latter, which is what we ordered. In practice the first of the 7 is an amuse-bouche (one of which comes unannounced on the 3 courser) and another is a tiny pre-dessert. Even so, the longer menu gives a fuller chance to appreciate the chef’s ideas, without much extra cost.And there are some pretty original ideas here – daring combinations of ginger, wasabi and truffle, for instance, all on the same plate and all, I’d say, succeeding. Often there are lots of small touches of intense flavour on the plate enabling you to combine then in different ways on different mouthfuls – the best example om our menu, a dish of turbot and scallop, served with baby beans and minute carrots, with a good few shavings of truffle, a scattering of two kinds of fish eggs (black and white – no idea what fish), a sliver of ginger, a mouthful of tomate confite and much more besides. All very carefully thought through but full of surprises.A good wine list, though surprisingly lighter on local wines than French classics. The 32 Euro white Luberon we had was superb.The service was efficient but low on charm – our waiter seemed to have had a total personality bypass! The other slight negative was the loud and rather corny piped pop music, although they seemed to turn this down as the restaurant filled up.Most of the tables are downstairs in an attractive vaulted-ceilinged basement. There are couple of awkwardly placed tables just inside the entrance on the ground floor. If I booked again, I would definitely make sure that I wasn’t going to be given one of those.