Luxembourg lays out more foodie delights

Luxembourg has the highest GDP in the world, so it is perhaps not surprising that it also has the highest percentage of Michelin restaurant stars per inhabitant of any country. I have written often about the restaurants of this gastronomic paradise. One of our greatest foodie delights lay in doing it ourselves.

Chef Bertrand has gone the restaurant route, and now operates a kitchen, classroom and shop in a storefront a few miles west of Luxembourg city centre. The formula is a simple one: custom-designed cooking classes for small groups, ending in the eating of what you've made, complete with generous quantities of matching wines. A great way to get to know people, and a pleasant alternative to yet another night out in a restaurant.

Bertrand's place consists of a kitchen on one side, dominated by a large work island that comfortably fit the six of us that evening. All the necessary ingredients for the evening are artfully laid out, and the menu is written on a nearby chalkboard. The other side of the room is dominated by two large tables, at which you get to eat once you've put in a bit of hard graft.

Unlike most cooking schools, Bertrand doesn't demonstrate and then have each team repeat what he's shown. Instead, he sets each person to individual tasks, popping from one to another with instruction and weaving it all together with general descriptions for everyone. Thus the lesson part moves much faster than the usual cooking school, though you have to pay sharp attention if you're actually going to get the recipes written down. (I got the impression Bertrand wasn't keen to expose too many of his actual recipes.)

Our evening started with a simple appetiser of smoked salmon, laid over a mixture of ricotta and olive oil spooned atop a slice of baguette, then topped with sesame seeds. I'd never contemplated the combination. It was fantastic. We moved on to a Thai style dish of prawns in spicy coconut broth, then roast duck with oriental vegetables, ending with a sinfully rich, flourless chocolate tart.

Our other highlight was a return to La Distillerie, which was just as marvelous the third time as the first. Having already written about its delights in detail (see 5.2.10 and 19.7.08), I'll just say that chef René Mathieu continues to dazzle and innovate. Yet another splurge on the 11 course tasting menu, yet another delivery of seasonal treats without any revisiting of past dishes. Similar styles, of course, but a significantly different meal than the two I've had here before. It is so easy for top chefs to rest on their laurels and serve their signature dishes for years at a time. All credit to Mathieu for continuing to innovate when, arguably, he doesn't need to.

Later in the week we enjoyed an exceptional meal at the St. Martin winery in Remich, back on the Mosel but now on the Luxembourg shore. Another return visit for me, and one that didn't disappoint. The restaurant's massive salad platters, majoring on either meat or fish, make you feel healthy while also laying out a wealth of little luxuries. On the more substantive side, my partner's steak was some of the best beef I've had in a while.

With all that fine eating behind us, we spent the last day of our trip at the spa in Mondorf-Les-Bains, hoping that the pummeling of the water jets and sweating in the sauna would extract a bit of the fat and alcohol I'd consumed during the past week. Fat chance. But lying back in the hot bubble pool, watching the leaves dance on the trees in the open air above me, I didn't really care. Yet again, Luxembourg delivered a holiday big on gourmet delights and relaxation.