Author: Dennis Franklin
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Lunch and Art at Château La Coste
Today at Château La Coste in Provence felt like one of those places where food, landscape and art all become part of the same experience. Before lunch we spent time walking through the grounds looking at the outdoor artworks integrated into the vineyards and hillsides. The standout for me was the Oak Room by Andy…
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Duck, Eggplant and the Landscape of Southern France
Lunch at Château Capitoul felt like the food equivalent of the surrounding gardens – restrained, highly regional and completely confident in its ingredients . The opening dish was a carpaccio of Mediterranean fish dressed simply with olive oil, lemon, apple and radish. Clean, bright flavours with just enough sharpness and texture to remind you how…
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The Quiet Confidence of Château Capitoul – Sète
One of the most interesting things about revisiting a project like Château Capitoul is seeing what happens after the “new garden” phase has passed. Six years on, the landscape has moved beyond installation and into maturity, and it is far stronger for it. The discipline of James Basson’s design is what makes it work. There…
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Nîmes
Nîmes feels like a city designed by people who understood heat long before air conditioning. We arrived and walked first through broad boulevards lined with deep green plane trees, where water sits low in the paving and the hard Mediterranean light is softened by shade rather than hidden from it. Everything here seems designed around…
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Bonnieux
Today felt like a study in sculptural thinking – first in landscape, then in wood. In Bonnieux we visited La Louve, the extraordinary garden created by Nicole de Vésian. What strikes you immediately is restraint. Nothing shouts. The garden is clipped, pared back, disciplined – yet somehow deeply emotional. Rounded shrubs echo the hills of…
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The Landscape Beneath the Garden
There’s something fascinating about travelling through Provence with a group led by garden designer and writer Michael McCoy. After only a few days, you stop seeing gardens as isolated things. They become part of a much bigger landscape – geology, agriculture, climate, architecture, history and food all folded together. Today started with another private garden…
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Tortilla for Two
1. The Situation The potatoes are ready and sitting there. If you leave them, they go soft or start sprouting. The hens are laying steadily, so eggs aren’t scarce. This is one of those moments where doing nothing wastes both. 2. The Approach This is a holding dish as much as a meal. You’re turning…
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Travelling Masterclass
For the next couple of weeks I’m doing something a little different – travelling through the south of France as part of a garden tour led by Michael McCoy. There are about twenty of us moving through Provence and the Mediterranean coast looking at gardens, landscapes and the relationship between climate, geology and the way…
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Mackerel Fillet
Lunch in Marseille today and this handwritten board pretty much summed up the Mediterranean for me: Flame-seared mackerel glazed with orange, cumin sweet potato mash, and a sweet-sour ginger emulsion. Simple idea, but a really interesting combination to think about back home in Australia. You could easily do this with local mackerel, kingfish, salmon or…
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Couscous & Roast Chicken Croquettes
8 1. The Situation Leftover roast chicken that’s already been picked over once.Cooked couscous sitting in the fridge – dry, not something you want to just reheat. Both need using. Neither is appealing on its own. 2. The Approach You’re not trying to “improve” couscous – you’re using it as structure. Chicken brings flavour and…
Rough Cut Kitchen 