We set out on foot looking for a recuperative beer and a little light lunch. Finding Le Pescadou was a pleasant surprise as some of Castres's other, and supposedly better, restaurants had closed at 1.30 pm and we had still not lunched. The jolly patron obviously knew two players when he saw them, and he declared his place to be still open at 1.45 pm .

At first glance Le Pescadou does not look particularly auspicious, but the place had good local support and later that night a local assured me this is one of Castres's better eateries.

We sat outside, as the inside restaurant is fairly small and was full, although there is also a sort of metallic poissoniere area also with seats. Our outside tables and chairs were more suited to a burger van but they sufficed. I had excellent fish soup with all the bits and Lord Toad had fresh large prawns. We both had turbot and expected a slab of meat from a large fish. Instead we had a smallish fish each, I would estimate about ¾ of a pound. They were very good although we could not but help wonder how much longer Turbot, already a rarity, will last if the small fish are being taken.

All in all it was an excellent food and a charming lunch in the sunshine with a jolly caring patron.

For dinner we headed to Le Victoria , which is rated as the top restaurant in Castres and I think that is a fair call. It is located in an old square behind the rather dull cathedral but this little basement restaurant is anything but dull. The steps down from the ground floor reception area cum bar are not for the feint hearted. I dread to think what happens to anybody silly enough to become incapacitated: not a good place to need carrying out of!

The top gastronomic menu is a real demonstration of the class and style of this operation. From the amuse bouche, unusually listed as part of the menu but almost a course in itself, to the vast pudding plate, every dish is interesting and different.

I had suggested to Lord Toad that the menu would not be a challenge after our lunchtime indulgence because menus tend to serve smaller portion: I could not have been more wrong. After the amuse bouche we had thee kinds of foie grass: two classic preparations and a small piece of suitably pink plain goose liver. The half lobster was not small; the palate cleaner was an excellent apple ice cream in calvados and the so called main course was beautifully tender and cooked piece of beef with a rich ceps sauce. Then came that desert: eight supposedly sampler sizes of different deserts; I have been in restaurants where those sampler sizes were the size of a fully priced desert!

The only disappointment was the wine, mainly because we chose a local wine, a Fitou, that was really not good and nothing like the Fitous I am used to: which are robust and strong: this was best described as anaemic and camp!