L'Ambassade - Réserver une table

We are staying in Sete for a few weeks so thought we'd do a day trip to Beziers and time it so we arrived for lunch and try out this one-star opposite the station.On arrival it looks very closed, but it turned out that the owners simply thought frosted windows was a good external look! It was relatively posh inside and only three other tables being used. We went for the €30 menu, but there were €45 and €75 options. We had a bottle of Minervois white, which was very nice indeed (and only €24).This restaurant is very old-school. Nibbles to start, amuse bouche, starter, largeish main, cheese or desert. Pre-desert if you went for desert. All very nice, but not outstanding. The best dish was the amuse bouche! It was a foie gras and mushroom thing with foam on top. The foie gras was ridiculously good. We couldn’t work out if it was pan-fried or the mousse type option but extremely smooth. Anyway, as we ate it we doubted whether we would have anything better to follow, and so it proved. As usual with “old-school”, the starters were better than the mains. I had tuna with asparagus (with some nice touches in terms of sauces) and my wife had rouget on artichokes with a cod fish cake underneath. I won’t trouble you with the mains. For desert, I went for cheese and there was a massive cheese board (hadn’t had that for a while) and my wife went for the chocolate delice which was classic and very nice. Coffee was €4 a go (expensive for France), so we refused on principal and found a place for €1.50 up the road.The service was very good and we enjoyed ourselves, but I sensed that this is a restaurant that would not get a Michelin star in a buzzy city like London. I've certainly eaten better in London restaurants that do not have a star. The lunch menu is good value, though, so don't be put off. Perhaps the bigger menus are a step up.

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L'Ambassade restaurant is right opposite the station in Beziers so is easy to find in a rather down at heel part of town. My husband and I went for lunch last Wednesday. There were eight other people in the restaurant at the time. The decor is fairly dull inside and it is difficult to tell if the restaurant is open or closed from the outside due to strange frosted glass. A very charming maitre d' came and took a drinks order and gave us the lunch menu showing a menu for 45 euros and one for 75 euros. We thought that there was a menu for 30 euros as stated outside the restaurant but clearly this was not the case. However by accident I happened to notice that this menu did have another page and this was where the 30 Euro meno was hiding. Why not point this out from the beginning instead of hoping that the more expensive menus are chosen.On starting to select our choices the waiter told us that there were changes to the menu due to the unavailability of certain products. Surely a restaurant commanding a Mitchelin star should print a menu daily and not rely on their waiter apologising for not having half the advertised dishes.There were little welcoming canopies which were average before the amuse bouche which was definitely the star of the whole show. Foils gras with a warm foam. My starter of Rouget fish was pleasant enough but the monkfish tail dish with razor clams was very dull and for me the razor clams were very undercooked to the point of being tough and glutinous. The cheese board was wonderful and my chocolate delice was good. We had a very good bottle of Minovois white wine with our lunch.Would I go again? Not really - I question the Mitchelin star.

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As soon as the wine arrived, we were treated to our first 'surprise', a little rectangular platter of five tastebud tittilators each including a shot glass of the essence of 'courgettes' ( zucchini) to tiny brochettes to wee glasses of asparagus mousse with creme fraiche. From the menu, 'L'Approche' at 33 Euros, I chose the marinated tuna with sardines and green asparagus to start, the most tender piece of marinated tuna I have ever had that cut like velvety foie gras. Swordfish with caramelized mushrooms followed. My husband chose from the 'La Decouverte' menu at 45 euros: carpaccio of red tuna with a citrus vinaigrette and his favorite French dish, riz de veau on pasta with an addictive creamy mushroom sauce. Everything was beautifully presented, tho' I found my swordfish a little salty and rather plain without a sauce. Included in the 'La Decouverte' menu was the heavily laden cheese chariot with such a generous representation of French cheeses making the choice of only three or four extremely difficult. Turning on the 'sweet' tastebuds after that was another 'surprise offering' of dainty squares of chocolate mousse followed by our dessert choices: cherries arranged around a chocolate 'craquante' with little 'bombes' of cherry sorbet and the seasonal 'fraises des bois' with a cornet of strawberry sorbet., each exquisitely good. Of course, with the demi-tasse of coffee came a plate of dear little biscuits creating the perfect ending. The waiters were attentive and personable taking after the grand master of it all, M. Karim, who runs a very fine restaurant.

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What a combination! A creative and experienced chef, the best Maitre'D that I have ever met and very good value menus. The understated menus have pleasant surprises and the menu l’Approche is exceptional value for money at 30€.They really want to please their customers. From our welcome to our leaving we were treated like special guests. Service with empathy; attentive but not intrusive. Service as it should be.The atmosphere is dignified but relaxed and friendly.The food has subtle nuances with some unusual ingredients that make you think. The chef created wonderful dishes for our vegetarian son - pictures on a plate. It helps if vegetarians inform them when booking (also for any allergies). The wines are well chosen and the sommelier gives good advice. No persuasion to buy more expensive bottles, as we often find in restaurants of quality. What do I like least? I cannot think of anything; dining there is pleasure from entering to leaving. I will return as I know that for the same cost, in other restaurants in this area I will have inferior meals, wines and service.As I consider it is the best restaurant in this area I find it incomprehensible that the Michelin Guide ignores it.

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Very good food and service. We ordered a three-courses, but got eleven if you tell also the small ones! One of top two restaurants in the town.

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