Mare e Monti

On the last week of October, I received a visit that I was eagerly awaiting: my boyfriend. We had planned a great two-week trip, counting on a mid-term break I got at school. The first week of the trip we spent in France, during which we headed to Toulouse, "la ville rose" (the pink city).

The Hotel de Dieu

Sunset at Garonne river

Yes, it is. Pink, I mean. Everything is built with small red bricks, which gives the city a certain romantic air unlike the others I had visited in France before. Toulouse is also famous for its university, the Université de Toulouse, one of the largest in the country (which explained why there were SO many people our age walking down the streets.) Some of its famous landmarks are the Capitol, and of course loads of churches. My favorite part, however, was walking by the Garonne river. On the first day, we bought a bottle of French wine in a small shop, got ourselves two plastic cups and waited for the sun to set... 

Let's get to the interesting part though: the food. Toulouse is situated in the Mid-Pyrénnes region, which is famous for the duck breast and foie gras. I must warn you from the beginning: I am not a big fan of duck. I have eaten delicious duck, which I liked very much thank you, but it is not my favorite type of meat. I'd much rather have lamb, for example. So, unfortunately, this post is not going to be about the amazing duck I ate at this cute little restaurant. Or the amazing foie gras we bought at the shop in the corner. It's going to be about risotto! 

Walking around after our little late-afternoon drinks (the bottle of wine mentioned earlier), we stumbled upon a small, cute alley which had a restaurant with outside seating - this is a little redundant in France, I know. It looked like the most romantic place, so we chose it. They had the foie gras my boyfriend was dying to eat and were reasonably priced, so we thought "why not?"

The little alley

Why not indeed. I ordered a risotto. No wait, let me rephrase that. I ordered THE risotto. The most amazing, delicious, tasty, mouth-watering risotto ever. Ever. It was just that good. 
It had mushrooms and a different kind of dried beef, called viande de grison, produced in Switzerland - you can find more info about it here - and loads of parmesan and heavy cream. I know, it sounds like your average risotto, but no. No. It was delicious. The flavors were all there, the meat was strong but not overwhelming, the parmesan was enough to make it pleasantly salty and the mushroom was a nice compliment. None of the different ingredients clashed, in every single bite they all came together perfectly.

THE risotto

Eating good food just makes me so happy! 

Moreover, the service was great... it was a Monday night and even though we were the only customers left, we felt super comfortable to stay there and have a long, nice meal. The price was not cheap, but it was worth every penny. 

City: Toulouse, France
Restaurant: Mare e Monti
Food: Excellent
Service: Great
Price: €€€