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IT WAS, in retrospect, a faux pas of the first magnitude. A late lunch at the Royal Mougins Golf Club followed by dinner at the divine Palme d'Or restaurant could have been an adventure in excess for a starving gourmet. After two days spent sampling the delights of Cannes we should have read the clues, should have guessed that the highlights were still to come.
If you're familiar with such exotica you'll doubtless know of the Palme d'Or. M. Michelin has graced it with two stars and has placed it at the pinnacle of French haute cuisine. It is a temple of the culinary arts, where the devout come to worship. Part of the sumptuous Hotel Martinez on La Croisette, the famed beachside boulevard, it has the Bay of Cannes as a glittering backdrop. Dining here is a celebration of delights in a setting to impoverish adjectives.
There are no black ties or tiaras. Style is the key here, not fashion. The waiters wear lounge suits, like supporting actors in a play with the diners cast as the central characters.
"Champagne blanc or rose`, madames et monsieurs?" was the first line of dialogue as we gathered in the reception lounge. Decisions, decisions... There were more to come. It proved to be a play in eight acts as course followed course, a succession of vintage wines playing counterpoint in the symphony. With lunch still on our minds, we responded manfully and with great joy.
Our table of six included four nationalities. Conversation sparkled. It was an event of sheer bliss. I will refrain from reciting the menu: it would only induce disbelief tinged with jealousy...
The dinner occupied three hours and was, by consensus, the finest in our collective memories. A twelve hour fast would have been a more apposite preamble but we, unknowing golfers, had been ambushed by le chef at Royal Mougins, although being gentlemen we blamed a late tee time on a demanding course for our tardy arrival at the table.
In retrospect, if our dinner was unforgettable the lunch was almost as memorable, albeit of simpler fare and style. Give the French their due: when the subject is food they hold top spot on the leader board. Here in the UK we eat to live: in Europe they live to eat and in La Belle France it is a pastime at which they excel. Formidable!
So an exclusive golf club is also a magnet for gourmets. If they are golfers too they have the best of both worlds at Royal Mougins. The lunch was a concerto of delights, three courses with a choice of wines, served by multi-lingual staff in a setting that was a feast for all the senses. Heck, you’d want to be a member simply to enjoy the occasional lunch!
The elevated terrace at Royal Mougins is a much-used accoutrement of the Provencal-style clubhouse and a focal point for the club's social life in a climate that, for most of the year, is close to perfection. Set on the high point of the wooded estate, it overlooks the rolling emerald fairways and is a natural habitat for al fresco diners.
We were there on seniors' day and 40 or so resident ex-pats were lunching after their competition. It was a happy occasion, bubbling with laughter and ribaldry at the prize giving. You'd kill for membership but don't make plans: it is by invitation only and is limited to 700, comprised of 32 nationalities, we gathered. We viewed them with green eyes.
The course, open since 1993, reposes in a secluded valley near the town of Mougins a short drive from Cannes. It is a serene Provencal landscape dominated by a river, venerable trees and ancient stone-wall terracing. You'll deduce it is not displeasing to the eye and the course melts into it in a masterpiece of design and routing. It was laid out by Robert Von Hagge and like his creations at Golf Nationale, Les Bordes and Seignosse, was acclaimed the nation's best new course at its opening. The Peugeot Golf Guide, the game's equivalent of Le Guide Michelin, has it in the nation's leading five courses and among the finest in Europe. Few would debate either ranking.
To extend the culinary theme, this is a main course par excellence, at once tantalising, robust and fulfilling. But it should carry a health warning: I would suggest it is not for those with handicaps in excess of 20. It is too tough, at least at first sighting. The Cannes Open has been staged here. The Tour pros were suitably impressed. They didn't murder it.
It is a par-71 with a card that reads 6,600 yards (SS72) from the back tees to 4,930 yards (SS69) for the ladies. There are five sets of tees on most holes, six on some, so there are options aplenty, to appease the hot shot and demi-hacker alike. The course is never less than undulating, is hilly in parts with a flatter forest area on the valley floor. You’ll face lots of awkward stances and devilish bunker shots. Agua proliferates, too, and indecision is a frequent interloper.
So variety is the keynote, topographically and technically, with a mix of holes ranging from the demanding to the relatively genteel. It calls for every club in the bag and some shots you may not yet have invented.
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