Menton…..

by Mandeep Gaygoat

After a relaxing morning where I did the childish but enjoyable things (like brush my teeth whilst using the lift and after a shower dry myself, again whilst using the lift!) we had a wander around the hotel’s amazing terraced gardens and then ventured out to the Loving Hut in Menton, we found free parking in a nearby car park.

Enjoying a morning coffee at the hotel

Views from the room

Before leaving the hotel we asked to see another suite

Views from the hotel

Driving to Menton

Menton

The free car park

A building in Menton

Looking out from Menton

The Loving Hut restaurant is part of the same chain we have visited in other countries. The Loving Hut marketing slogan is Be Vegan, Make Peace.

Loving Hut Menton
649 Promenade du Soleil
06500 Menton
T: +33 4 92 07 32 57
E: [email protected]
W: www.lovinghut.fr

Sangeet ordered a falafel mix and I ordered a loving burger, for starters we had summer rolls. My dish came as a deal, burger, fries and dessert or drink for 12 euros. We got chatting to the owner, Afigour, he mentioned that all the staff who work there are vegan, those that weren’t became vegan. As you talk to Afigour you can tell he is very much into veganism and spirituality. He told us about increasing veganism around the world and how Mongolia is leading the way. He talked about various healing lines (‘blessing lines’) coming to earth and how these can be attracted to earth by very spiritual people.

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Vegan cakes

Plenty of seating inside

Literature and products for sale

Our food

Two hands are not enough!

Falafel mix

Dessert

Vegan dog food!

Whilst chatting a fellow Sikh came to say hello, he was from Glasgow and his name is Surjit Singh Sokhi, he has been coming to this part of the world for the last ten years and thoroughly loves the area. Also whilst chatting we found that we had many friends and relations in common. What a small world!

We left the restaurant a few hours later after having great food and fantastic company.

We had a wander around Menton which is a very beautiful town. We walked along the Promenade du Soleil seeing people of all shapes and sizes sunbathing, we saw the Basilique St-Michel Archange, a 17th century church, the beautiful gardens of Garavan and the Jardin Bioves and nearby Palais de l’Europe. it was enjoyable just wandering about enjoying the beauty of the architecture and gardens and taking in the energy of the place. We were around 1km from the border with Italy and were tempted to pop over. On the way to the car we bought locally grown strawberries, we were looking for oranges especially after seeing the many orange and lemon trees during our walk, unfortunately the oranges for sale were from Spain and the satsumas were from Israel.

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On the way back to the hotel we drove through Monte Carlo, as they are preparing for the Formula 1, the stands were being erected. I managed to drive fast through one of the straight roads. Apparently you have to be very careful as this is frowned upon by the police.

As we entered Eze village there was a fantastic vista point where we could see our hotel hanging on to the cliff edge. We parked up and as we were walking to the point a motor biker passed us and shouted something out, he then turned around and came back to talk to us, he kept saying Guru Nanak, looking towards the sky and shaking his head side to side!!

We arrived back at the hotel around 7:30pm in time for our 8pm dinner reservation at La Chèvre d’Or, a Michelin 2 star restaurant at the hotel.

We walked to the restaurant and were greeted by a number of staff and three maître d’hôtel! Now I understand why the food costs so much, just to pay the staff wages!

For aperitif we had a asparagus, notice I said ‘a!

Well judge for yourself:

I felt so sorry for the asparagus it felt so lonely and sad!

For starters:

The base is eggplant and various vegetables and flowers were on top, a bit like a herb garden. I am now thinking surely it must get better!

For mains we had:

Basically mixed vegetables cooked in its owns waters!

Between and alongside courses I was filling myself up on:

Which was the nice bit!!

For dessert Sangeet had sorbet:

I had fruit cocktail:

On a bed of finely cut kiwi and I mean finely cut! There were various fruit.

For mocktails:

Considering this is a 2 Michelin star restaurant, the chef could have been more creative and instead of giving us boiled vegetables done some other type of dishes.

It does make you laugh when you think for lunch we ate at loving hut, we ordered what WE wanted and paid 34 euros, at the Michelin 2 star restaurant they tell YOU what you are having and then at the end of the meal give you a huge food bill for mediocre food! Saying that we have to be very thankful that with God’s blessing we are in a position to be able to come and try food at this restaurant. After a lot of laughs over the whole dining experience, including the waiters amusing descriptions of each dish (ours and other people’s), we retired to our suite.