Alex Sudheim
LIFESTYLE
Leaving Durban for a cruise down the South Coast is like sliding into a daydream on a warm weekend afternoon – drowsily hovering on the fuzzy threshold of the land of Nod, absently aware of the world going pleasantly blurry and vague.
As you roll through the green hills with the sea at your elbow, the city disappears behind you in a grey smudge of pollution and stress. For that wistful sensation of mellowness and languor, nothing beats those small South Coast lagoon towns with their atmosphere pitched somewhere between Twin Peaks and Arcadia.
Yet despite all the cosy comforts of seaside hamlet-dom, this neck of the woods throws up some interesting surprises, especially in the realm of culinary pleasures.
Nestled in the lush green foliage of Ramsgate’s mangrove forest and just below Tinkers and Smugglers Den – two of the world’s great lost-and-found treasuries – is L’Auberge La Petite Normandie, an expatriate enclave of classic French gastronomic genius. More a ramshackle old house which happens to serve incredible food than a functional eating venue, La Petite Normandie puts any big-city restaurant to shame in terms of character and cuisine.
With the combination of rustic ambience and simple yet sophisticated menu, having a breezy Saturday afternoon lunch here is more like being in a Renoir painting than merely sitting down for a meal.
With the swish and sigh of the trees and the sea caressing the wooden balcony, you sit surrounded by overflowing old bookshelves and wonder whether to order the Cuisses de Grenouille (frog’s leg pan-fried in butter with garlic and parsley). Suddenly you see the bill in terms of the cheapest trip to Normandy you could ever imagine.
While making strange jewellery out of peacock feathers, seashells and dragonfly wings, owner and chef Yvonne Cosson assures me that frog’s legs’ notorious reputation for tasting like chicken is a heresy.
Nevertheless, I lack the final resolve required to consume hindquarter of amphibian and settle for Salade Africaine, an intoxicating combination of fresh lettuce and herbs topped with smoked venison, dates, peppadew, pink pepper and spicy dressing.
In the main-course department, the menu brims with classic French masterpieces with a few interesting indigenous twists. Lapin Saute au Vin Blanc is rabbit cooked with white wine; Magret de Canard aux PIches is panfried duck breast with poached peaches; Filet de Veau Normande is pan-fried veal fillet with apple and Calvados, and Ris de Veau aux Aspeges is the French speciality of sweet bread – cow pancreas – cooked with vegetable julienne, asparagus, sherry and cream. Civet de Cochon Sauvage is the enticing- sounding marinated warthog with lavender and red wine.
The menu also abounds with seafood specialities, which include fresh filleted Dorado, crayfish, langoustines and prawns. Another classic from the kitchens of France is Milles Feuilles de Coquilles St Jacques, consisting of pan- fried scallops in cream and cognac in a melt-in-the-mouth milles feuilles pastry.
Having always wanted to try scallops but never having seen them on a menu before, I settled for this dish. Cosson put down her jewellery and wandered into her cooking cove, inviting me to observe her in action. In the big country kitchen she conjured up this miraculous dish, which somehow defied the impossible by tasting even better than it looked.
After despatching a remarkable dessert of home-made meringue, ice cream and fresh berries, washed down with another glass of chilled chardonnay, it was time to leave this ingenuous little garden of Eden and wind down to an empty beach for a siesta in the sun.
L’Auberge La Petite Normandie can be found at 73 Marine Drive, Ramsgate. Tel: (039) 317-1818