I have written previously about a place in the centre of Montpellier where me and the other students sometimes go after our morning lessons at the ILA French Immersion School. You can pick up a really decent slice of pizza for just a euro and it’s nestled in a nice little square where you can socialise under a big tree in the sun. If you are staying at the student residence for the language school however you might not feel like going all the way into town for a nice cheap lunch. Fear not! There is a great little bakery just down the road who has also taken on this great deal.
It was a Saturday afternoon after my first week in the student residence in Montpellier and a few of us were in the kitchen discussing how little food we had in. We agreed that going for a group shop later would be a good idea but we still needed to get something now and our stomachs were starting to growl. Juanita is a Colombian girl from Medellín who is doing her DELF exam preparation at the ILA French Language School and is also staying at the residence. She is quite the chef and is always rustling something in the kitchen which always smells great. We’ve agreed to have a cooking session together sometime soon as well as I’d love to learn a traditional Colombian recipe. Today however she was really not feeling like it and just wanted something quick and satisfying and she had heard of this place just down the road.
So we headed off down the road. It was a group of 4 of us, Juanita and me and a couple of Belgian guys; Rob and Gille. They were friends from home who had come to learn French in Montpellier together. Gille was in Juanita’s DELF exam preparation class and Rob was on my business French course so we all knew each other rather well and it was a nice dynamic. On the way down Gille was talking about how excited he was for ‘I Love Techno’ which is a music festival happening in December. Quite a few of the students at the ILA French immersion school are with Gille but Rob has to go back earlier because of a friends birthday and he is not happy about it.
The conversation didn’t last long though as the bakery is literally 30 seconds away. There is plenty of seating too if you wanted to sit down and enjoy your food but we wanted to be cosy in the residence as soon as possible. The selection of food available was good as it is a bakery so there was bread, pastries, sweets and some more savoury stuff which is where we found the pizzas. We got a couple of slices each and Gille and I treated ourselves to a cheesy croissant as well. In comparison to the previous pizza place each had its own qualities. The bakery had all the other stuff available you could pick up breakfast lunch, dinner and dessert here and the pastries and bread looked really nice if a bit mass produced looking. The pizza was tasty but not as fresh and authentic as the place in town. It makes sense as the central place is solely a pizzeria and the bakery I think just does it as an extra easy of luring in hungry students.
We took everything home and after a blast in the microwave it was just what we wanted and we barely had to leave the residence. Although I would choose the first pizza place solely for the pizza the bakery is still such a convenient place to pick up some nice grub. I think for lunch after my classes at the French immersion school I will stick with the pizzeria but I will definitely be returning to this handy little spot. I’m just increasing my repertoire of choice for my time learning French in Montpellier and it’s nice to have options.