The story
Auberge de la Forge, at 8 rue Jean-Parisot in Lavalette (Toulouse), serves modern cuisine and holds one Michelin star for 2026. Théo and Claire Fernandez trained in Parisian kitchens before returning to the region where they started.
Théo prepares the savory dishes. Claire makes the desserts and looks after guests in the dining room, as Le Fooding noted when it listed the inn in 2026. The menu follows the seasons and leans on Southwest produce, bought mostly from local suppliers who the couple say share their values.
The current menu, Expressions de nos terroirs, is 110 euros and is given as a guide. It opens with cucumbers from nearby growers in the spirit of a tzatziki, with peppermint and smoked feta. Lacaune mountain Arctic char comes with beans and fig leaf oil, and Breton blue lobster with young beetroot and redcurrants. Pigeon is roasted with verbena and served with artichoke and cherries in sakura vinegar. Rhubarb in the style of a charlotte, with elderflower, ends the meal. A wine pairing costs 55 euros, and a children's menu at 25 euros covers ages up to 10.
The inn is a red brick Toulouse-style house on a small village square in the Lauragais. Inside, a large fireplace anchors the room, and a giant blacksmith's bellows hangs from the ceiling. It gives the place its name and its look, in a dining room that has been updated without losing the village-inn feel.
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High quality cooking
At merely 28 years old, Claire Cames and Théo Fernanedz have already added a fair share of Parisian Michelin-starred restaurants to their respective resumes (Shangri-La, the Meurice, the Ritz…), before heading back to their native Southwest region. He prepares the savory dishes while she crafts the sweets and takes care of guests at this village inn, a typical brick building that’s been given a modern makeover around an imposing fireplace and a giant blacksmith’s bellows hanging from the ceiling. The night we went, the locally sourced four-course menu struck a balance between technical prowess and modern trends: after a very Basque amuse-bouche of piquillo pepper sorbet, corn mousse and polenta croutons, we had squash from the gardens of Les Jardins de Ma Petite with an egg yolk preserved in ground coffee, an amontillado emulsion and guanciale from Colonnata; perfect slow-roasted yellow pollack, intensified by a rich grenobloise-style sabayon and fried capers; tender Ibaïama pork chops with smoked eggplant caviar, silky Provencal-style tomatoes, bread crumble and garlic chips; before a lovely beetroot-raspberry boule, with raspberry sorbet, beetroot icing, fresh raspberries and beetroot candies. // Auguste Marie
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