In the circumstances, there is much discussion of lunches (and dinners) as well as of aspects of life in Provence. But Mr Aalders does not classify the establishments he visits with rosettes, toques or stars, nor does he often discuss prices except in the broadest terms. Equally, though he has an eye for an interesting detail about this town or that village, he does not engulf the reader with lengthy guidebook descriptions. He takes as he finds and lets the reader do the same.
Restaurant tables and Provençal locations are less the subject matter of the book than the backdrop. They provide a stage set, complete with prompts to reminiscence for an entertaining and individualistic one-man show by a practised performer. Where these props prove inadequate, M Aalders has no hesitation in stretching his locations to Italy, Spain, Greece and elsewhere if he feels a meal, an incident or a judiciously dropped name provide an anecdote worth passing on.
Much travelled and the proprietor of art galleries in La-Garde-Freinet and Saint-Tropez, Mr Aalders is clearly a man of taste and the means to indulge it. This may make his comments somewhat academic for those with more limited resources. While quoted prices are bound to get out of date rapidly, potential diners-out might appreciate more precise indications than ‘modest’ or suitable for a special occasion. To be fair, his main concern throughout is on the quality of the food, the wine, the service and the ambiance – which means that he can be enthusiastic about a village bistro and refreshingly and devastatingly dismissive of those grander places whose pretensions are in line with their prices but not their performance.
Although his book defies conventional pigeon-holing by genre, its rare mixture of foodie commentary, travel writing, French provincial lore and humour, from the mild to the downright hilarious, is likely to be grasped eagerly by anyone whose interests coincide with some or all of these themes. The reader finds himself comfortably settled at one table after another, relaxing in the atmosphere and being gently guided through menu, wine-list and the surrounding area alike, by an urbane host with a refreshing and infectious sense of humour, neatly counterpointed by the charming line-and-wash illustrations of Nick Wadley.
The one thing that detracts from all this is the woefully inadequate editing which has let pass so many typographical, spelling, punctuation and other errors. The effect of this is, for instance, to leave the reader uncertain whether a reference to a dessert (here repeatedly spelt ‘desert’) as a coup de gras is a rather neat intentional pun or just yet another mistake.
Published in hardback by Kenneth Mason Publications Limited
192 pages, with 46 colour drawings by Nick Wadley
ISBN 978-0-859374-06-4 £16.95
Out to lunch in Provence 
If the name of this book is misleading