There are restaurants that go under the radar and which delight without warning an informed clientele. The Sylva in Balma is one of them and we didn’t miss the boat!
Almost twenty years in the restaurant business, tired of salary work, Adrien Cambitsis gave up everything to make his dream come true, almost five years ago now. Toulouse city center or near the crown?
Rents and the living environment will get the better of the center of the Pink City when Adrien comes across a closed tea room in Balma. He immediately saw the potential and launched himself, while the confinement ended, masks and controls were still required. He does some work and starts with his boss, still in office today, Jocelin Lesueur, who worked notably at Guillaume Momboisse’s Sept and at Yannick Delpech in Sandyan. A first business for Adrien Cambitsis and a first position as chef for Jocelin. The duo, highly motivated, threw themselves body and soul into the adventure and it paid off, the Sylva is still there, the team now consists of five people and the customers, always there.
A true ethic
We tend to believe, when we are city dwellers, that everything happens in the city and the inner suburbs are invariably put aside. Ultimately, it is doing rather better, the competition is less severe, the rents are often lower and the clientele is more loyal. So when in addition, it’s cooking for real, and at Sylva, the kitchen being open, cheating is impossible, and the products are sourced on the plate as well as in the glass, we just want to come back.
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Draft beers, bottles and premium soft drinks come from Brasserie La Seillonne in Drémil, as do spirits and liqueurs from The Island, also located in Drémil. Most of the meat comes from Aveyron and Table de Solange, but also from Bousquet, in short, everything is ready, all that remains is to taste, because what we are looking for in the restaurant is to enjoy!
It’s time to eat
Menu at €27 total for lunch, high range for this type of restaurant but consistent in terms of the products served. We will opt for the menu, a few dishes having teased our taste buds just by reading their titles. Let us point out, however, that the tree-lined terrace on which we had lunch was most pleasant, a slight breeze making us forget at times the stifling heat of June.
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Crab croquette, rillettes, wakame (seaweed) salad and very good rouille. A real pleasure, fresh and delicious, with mastered seasoning. Gourmet sweetbreads, variations of artichokes and crackers. Beautifully cooked sweetbreads, we find the artichoke creamy and slightly candied, the cracker plays its role, it’s good, even very good! Then comes the tuna sashimi, seaweed rice, peas and virgin sauce. A joy of freshness, no fuss, no unnecessary shoots that we might have been afraid of, everything is in its place and it works. The virgin is decorated with mustard seed pickles which suit it perfectly, the rice is presented in the form of a crispy puck, stuffed with seaweed in its heart and the pea plays its sweet role in binding everything together, we enjoyed ourselves.
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Gourmet and sweaty lamb ribs, confit and crispy, potato millefeuille, last green asparagus and rosemary siphon. Everything was going pretty well until now, then the apricot in two ways arrived on his shortbread, with its ricotta companion and its verbena sorbet friend, it was also perfect! High-end homemade cannelés served with coffee, you won’t complain as you continue to lounge in the shade on the Sylva’s pleasant tree-lined terrace.
