Finistère: before they go into the pan, the plants in the botanical garden of the starred hotel-restaurant Ar Men Du can be visited

Every Friday from 11 a.m. to noon, the walk offered in the botanical garden of the Ar Men Du hotel-restaurant , in Névez (Finistère) appeals to all the senses. Over 3,000 m2 grows a profusion of aromatic plants, vegetables and flowers that will be used by the Michelin-starred chef Jérôme Gourmelen to enhance his dishes.

This garden was born in 2019 from the imagination and work of Véronique Pélissier, architect, and Claire Tanguy, landscape botanist. "We needed a garden for humans and animals, including birds. We carefully chose the plants with this in mind," emphasizes Claire Tanguy, who has previously worked on large gardens in Touraine.

Ar Men Du's garden is divided into several sections: vegetable, aromatic, and wild. "It's important for the restaurant to have fresh produce on site," insists the botanist. "It's the concept of garden to plate . This section is permaculture, the soil is always covered and there are always plants. We have no green waste. We use wood chips and buckwheat hulls for the soil." And since rabbits are numerous and greedy, but each must coexist, some plants are hidden among other plants.

Between the "Little Jem", a variety of salad, the edible flowers, nasturtiums and calendulas , the daylilies which go very well with caviar, the perpetual cabbages, potatoes and other purple oraches , whose taste is similar to spinach, it is an explosion of flavors and beautiful discoveries. "And visitors can leave with a bag of seeds", explains Claire Tanguy.

On the aromatic side, it's a veritable olfactory Eden. We savor the plant leaves and discover their taste with astonishment. "Some can be mistaken for weeds, in the eyes of people, but not at all." One of the plants is very rare: the "chocolate cosmos" (cosmos atrosanguineum) , which gives off a cocoa scent in good weather. It is carefully protected from birds and other rodents that might be attracted by the particular taste of this plant. "We also use a lot of aromatic plants for herbal teas and syrups, like the monarch, which has a lemony taste."

Nearby, you'll also find raspberry bushes, rhubarb plants, and a fig and apple orchard, the only ones that can withstand the wild coastline. "We also have the truly wild part that we call the dune garden, and a honey-producing meadow," adds the botanist.

From the beginning of November until mid-February, the garden rests a little, but winter flowers still remain there, carefully maintained daily by one of the establishment's employees.

For her part, Claire Tanguy has no shortage of ideas for continuing to develop and enrich the garden, particularly with opuntia, a variety of Mexican cactus with very fleshy leaves, which "is incredibly juicy" and can be used as a vegetable or fruit. One more flavor for the Michelin-starred chef.

Practical: to visit the botanical garden of the Ar Men Du hotel-restaurant all year round, it is necessary to book at 02.98.06.84.22.