Canal Du Midi on Bike – O’Berges du Canal Restaurant, Villeneuve-lès-Béziers ~ Celebrating France

How we ended up dining right on the water at O’Berges du Canal Restaurant on one of our Canal du Midi bike rides.

With the July weather getting warmer each day, we set off for another bike ride about 10:30am to try to beat the afternoon heat. Our planned destination was La Gambille restaurant on the south side of the Canal du Midi at the edge of Villeneuve-lès-Béziers. However, although the restaurant was open, it was only serving drinks at the bar with food service starting at noon. So, we decided to keep riding along the canal and try a different location.

We arrived at the canal lock in Villeneuve-lès-Béziers and started looking around for a lunch spot, ideally right next to the canal. Just downstream from the locks, we found O’Berge du Canal Restaurant. O’Berges (“au berges”) means “on the banks” and they had outdoor dining literally right on the bank of the canal. This looked like a great spot to sit for a meal, enjoy the shade under the trees that line the canal, and watch boats pass by. O’Berges doesn’t start serving food until noon either, but we had arrived about 11:30 and they happily served us a bottle of local rose (from Les Vignerons de Sérignan) while we waited to order food at noon.

A bottle of rose from Les Vignerons de Sérignan, served at the edge of the Canal du Midi at O'Berges du Canal.

With plenty of time to peruse the food menu, we decided on the burger savoyard and chevre miel (goat cheese and honey) pizza.

The burger came with poitrine fume–which is pretty close to what is called bacon in the US–tomato, red onion, red leaf lettuce, a homemade burger sauce, and a generous amount of melty white cheese. On the side was a small salad and a well-sized serving of fries. It was perfectly cooked and very tasty, and the fries were beautifully crunchy on the outside, pillowy inside. The small salad was very fresh, with local, in-season tomatoes and a simple yet very satisfying vinaigrette dressing.

Burger savoyard from O'Berges du Canal in Villeneuve-lès-Béziers

The pizza was amazing and the highlight of the visit, in my opinion. Seven beautiful medallions of white chevre adorned the top of the honey drizzled pizza. The sauce was creme epaisse–which is literally a “thick cream” sauce–and tasted very much like a fresh ricotta cheese.

The chevre miel pizza from O'Berges du Canal restaurant in Villeneuve-lès-Béziers.

As we stated in our last review, research requires sacrifice. So Arthur ordered the fondant au chocolat with creme anglaise. It came with a big scoop of surprisingly flavorful vanilla ice cream, and the fondant had just the right level of rich sweetness to pair well with the other elements on the plate. A highly recommended desert for chocolate lovers, though we both felt that the ice cream added more to the flavor than the subtle creme anglaise in the name.

The fondant au chocolat with creme anglaise dessert from O'Berges du Canal restaurant in Villeneuve-lès-Béziers

All in all, O’Berges du Canal was a pleasing surprise with a great menu, friendly service, and food that is definitely worth going back for a repeat visit. On top of all of those is the setting: beautiful, tree-lined, shady outdoor dining just a few feet from the edge of the canal — with no barrier blocking the view. You couldn’t be closer to the canal without being on a boat!

What a delight and we will return.