The story
In Castelmoron-sur-Lot, L'Herboriste occupies a house built in 1858 as a summer residence for the Duc de Comarque. Later a school, then a doctor’s home and surgery, the building was rediscovered in 2022 by Katarina and Renaud Chirouze. After a year and a half of work, they transformed it into a restaurant that feels like an extension of their own home. The dining room seats just fourteen guests per service, allowing the couple to give each table their full attention.
The Lot-et-Garonne is a fertile region, and the Chirouzes draw deeply from it. Their modern cuisine is built around seasonal vegetables, free-range poultry, farm pork, hazelnuts, prunes, and cheeses. But the defining element is wild herbs, young shoots, and aromatics, which appear in nearly every dish. The restaurant’s name, L'Herboriste, signals this commitment: a kitchen that treats herbs not as garnish but as a central ingredient.
There are three tasting menus, each a progression of small courses. The six-course menu (50 €) opens with apéritif bites, then moves through dishes like farm egg with artichoke and girolles, duck with berries and elderflower, cod with carrot and saffron, and strawberry with orange blossom and fresh herbs. The seven-course menu (65 €) adds a guinea fowl course with asparagus and morels. The nine-course menu (80 €), served at dinner and Sunday lunch, includes a wild prawn with jasmine and coconut and a refreshing pause between courses. All menus finish with mignardises. The pace is unhurried – allow two and a half to three and a half hours.
L'Herboriste earned a Michelin Recommended distinction in 2026, a recognition of the Chirouzes’ precise, ingredient‑driven cooking and the warm, personal atmosphere they create. It is a place that rewards those who seek out genuine, locally‑rooted modern cuisine in an unpretentious setting.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
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