Photography: La Réunion Tourisme

You run the risk of stumbling at Mr Fontaine’s Jardin des Parfums et des Épices. Not because obstacles lie in the way, but from the fragrances that make you swoon. Patrick tends to 1,500 species of plants in his private, sub-tropical jungle, and although still unprocessed, most of them will take your breath completely away with the smell of perfumes and spices.

It smells positively, nerve-rackingly good around the table on which Fontaine presents his favourite spice: vanilla beans. They produce forty different fragrances during the refining process and the ones here, he insists, are the world’s best and most aromatic. This is not surprising since they are native to the island you are visiting. And this is the middle of Europe.

Politically, the former Île de Bourbon, called Réunion today, is nothing more than a French department located 800 kilometres to the east of Madagascar. As for the landscape, the ethnically diverse population and the cuisine, it’s as though the Creator had deposited a sample of all the most beautiful things he succeeded in on the island. This is where a cuisine is maintained for which the rating “worth making a detour for” would be almost an insult: It’s worth an entire trip.

This applies without restriction to everything befalling the guests on the terrace of “Le Saint Alexis” restaurant in the hotel bearing the same name in Saint-Gilles-Les-Bains. Just the view will put a smile on your face that should stay for a long time. With aperitif in hand you can lazily watch how the Indian Ocean laps at the beach 50 metres away. Only the kitchen dares disturb this idyllic scene as it serves up duck rillettes with fresh thyme and a salad of herbs.

The oft-quoted claim that fat is an indispensible flavour enhancer makes no sense at all for this appetizer – the astoundingly aromatic rillettes are served so lean that you can eat this pâté without hesitation when it’s 25 °C in the shade. On the other plate are slices of fish from the ocean right in front of you, absolutely perfect and properly smoked to the consistency of the meat. You ask yourself why a Martini-flavoured crème is being served along with it, then you taste it – and have your answer. It goes exceptionally well with the salty fish.

This is not to be the final surprise. A breast of duck from the grill, with crispy skin, smelling of honey and bourbon vanilla, the juices sopped up during the gentle cooking process and seasoned with turmeric, tastes so good that eating it one can only nod one’s head in gratitude while chewing.

Also off the grill a banana tuna fillet, so carefully prepared that it looks a rich brown on the outside and on the inside is as tender and juicy as you could ever want it on your tongue. By the time you discover what’s been washed ashore on your plate, a cake of black olives, a fennel puree and a small bowl of light garlic crème, you'll decide to never leave this place again.

For one thing there isn’t the slightest reason to do so, because while you marvel at the horizon through the palm trees, the magicians from the kitchen are just getting into full swing. A cold minestrone of fresh fruit with mint, cinnamon and a pineapple sorbet soon appear. The happy cries of children coincidentally heard just at that moment are cheering the humpback whales surfacing 100 metres away. A very big compliment to the Saint Alexis chefs.

If you don’t need any exercise now, you never will. In the bustling town of Saint-André, just over one hour away by car, Madame Sabine is waiting. Or rather, she's busy grinding up over a pound of garlic cloves in a mortar the size of a salad bowl. “The goats need this!,” says Sabine, pointing to an enormous pot over an open gas flame in which small pieces of goat meat are simmering away. Madame Sabine is making a traditional Creole dish – with heart, soul, garlic, lots of spices and success. “I only use pieces of meat with bone. Otherwise the sauce tastes like it does at a hotel.”

The quantities of turmeric she specifies are fascinating: “Two large handfuls and then the same amount again afterwards. Otherwise it tastes like it does at a hotel." It’s clear who the adversary is here. We don’t tell her where we’re staying, and Sabine pours out her heart: All of her love goes to her daughter and to maintaining traditional Creole cari, just now simmering in the pot. She roasts garlic, onions, thyme, tomatoes, turmeric and other spices along with salt and pepper. That’s how it has to be! Whether it’s then meat, fish, smoked sausage or only vegetables that make their way into the stew pot can be decided as the mood takes you.

Sabine serves the goat ragout in a large, splendorous dining hall adjoining her kitchen. The meat is as tender as Sabine’s facial expression as she watches us dig in, and the sauce is indeed a spicy saffron yellow splendour. Her guests come great distances to experience this Creole tradition. They should bring along their appetites: When someone eating a bowl full of cari, rice and lentils threatens to capitulate, Madame sits next to him and explains why it’s important to eat all of it: So she can be sure that it tasted good.

However, that is one worry you can dispense with on the entire island: At the side of the road chicken and sauté skewers barbecued over charcoal are competing with mountains of shining fruit, goat cheese that does magic to the light sweetness of the island herbs on a piece of bread, pastry filled with minced meat called samoussas here, thumb-sized black pudding seasoned with cinnamon, raisins and sometimes rum, spicy baked fish balls served with a glass of beer in the evening sun – if you head off looking for pleasure, you'll find paradise on Réunion.

Text: Hans Kantereit

Recommended addresses on Réunion

Chez Sabine, 120, ruelle de la Poste/Cambuston, 97440 Saint-André, Phone +262 46 12 51, www.chez-sabine.fr

Hotel**** & Restaurant Le Saint Alexis, 44, route de Boucan Canot, 97434 Saint-Gilles-Les-Bains, Phone +262 24 42 04, www.hotelsaintalexis.com

Le Jardin des Parfums et des Épices, 7, chemin forestier Mare-Longue, 97442 Saint-Philippe, Phone +262 37 06 36, fontaine.patrick.e@orange.fr

Palm Hotel**** Spa, Grand’Anse, 97429 Petite-Île, Phone +262 56 30 30, http://palm-hotel-spa.iloha-co.fr

Restaurant La Cayenne, 317, Ravine Glissante, 97439 Sainte-Rose, www.ferme-auberge-lacayenne.fr

Saint Paul weekly market, busier on Fridays and Saturdays, colourful weekly market right on the shore promenade