Hotel Le Relais de Farrou

This game of skittles in Cajarc is on a roll under the supervision of Grégory Dattiches, a young chef from Lot with an ironclad CV. In a lively neo-bistro, he crafts spot-on inspired dishes ranging from gravlax of trout and a stew of thinly sliced beef cooked in lemon confit and chimichurri to roast monkfish in a saté sauce with verbena-flavoured roast apricots and a house sorbet adding the final flourish to this banquet. Food in the zeitgeist packed in forthright flavours that hits the spot every time. Love at first bite.

In the upper reaches of this village on the Causse de Limogne, this unusual restaurant is housed in an old stone farmhouse. It has been set up by a couple, sommeliers by trade and returnees from a stint in New Zealand, who learned the art of cutting meat from the village butcher, who happens to be the proprietress's father. As a result, they serve only local meats (from the Lot, Aveyron and Tarn-et-Garonne), prepared nose to tail, then matured, smoked, simmered, grilled or made into a terrine – accompanied by crispy, succulent chips cooked in beef fat. Don't miss the wood-fired leg of lamb, co