On the Monday we headed for
St Jean Du Luz, where we were booked in for
two days. In the end we only actually stayed
in the town for one night as the Central Hotel
was not what it was billed at: the final straw
being when the phones did not work: thus denying
me of my daily emails!
However as we had arrived in
time we sought a light lunch and found one at
Chez Carlos. A small Portuguese restaurant run
by a hard working couple: he on the stoves,
she as greeter, server and general factotum.
Chez Carlos is located in an appealing old shop
premises. The food is interesting, but basic,
with the owner's Portuguese origin is at the
forefront of every thing: fortunately we avoided
the Mateus! Clearly fish is the predominant
menu item but meat is also lovingly cooked.
Not haut cuisine but a charming small restaurant
where TLC make up for what maybe lost in presentation.
That night we dined in one
the other small restaurants in the narrow streets
of St Jean Du Luz. On the whole we found all
the restaurants in the central area small and
generally unexciting, but it was a Monday night
and many were closed.
The following morning we checked
out of the Central and headed for the hills.
We had found a couple of 
promising
places not far away and that looked promising.
The first place we got to was Ainhoa and the
Ithurria in a superb building, at the bottom
of a Pyrenees pass to Spain , in a classic unspoiled
village. The hotel and restaurant has been in
the same family for years and the family are
still everywhere with Father in the kitchen
and Grand Mother on the reception and the various
sons as General Manager, chef and waiters respectively.
Thus a great deal of care and attention is evident
in all areas.
For lunch we went for a drive
in the foothills of the Pyrenees . We ended
up in a village called Héletta. This
had
a large central square that must have been an
area market, and may still be so, there were
several hotels with dining rooms open attesting
to much more activity than was apparent that
lunchtime. The Garra provided an excellent buffet
style lunch and with a couple of glasses of
wine we felt we had left plenty of room for
the gastronomic experience we hoped to get latter
at the Ithurria
We dined that night in Ithurria's
large old baronial style room with plenty of
history evident in the discarded items on display.
The menus include a Menu Gastronomic which included
perfect Foie Gras, duck, local cheese and pud.
After dinner there is a vast range of Armagnacs
to choose from. All was excellent.
