La Citronelle – La Vallee Des Couleurs, Mauritius

They say, that if you’ve visited Mauritius, but not been to visit La Vallée Des Couleurs (The Coloured Valley) Nature Park, then you really haven’t visited Mauritius.

This place is a natural wonder, with breathtaking scenery of rolling hills, panoramic mountains, cascading waterfalls, and, of course, La Citronelle restaurant, which serves “authentic Mauritian fusion cuisine”.

The venue is large and spacious, with plenty of dark wooden beams overhead, and comfortable seating for around 100 guests.

With Head Chef Ganessen serving three types of cuisine – Mauritian, Italian and Indian – there’s plenty of options available for everyone.

Be sure to check out our video below for extensive coverage of not just said restaurant, but also a brief history of the valley range, coloured hills, the 3rd longest zip line in the world, and the longest suspended bridge in the Indian Ocean region.

Freshly baked French bread was served with butter which had entirely melted in the tropical heat.

Having said that though, this complementary bread was so good that we couldn’t help but cheekily request another helping.

Cerf Deer Rs. 850

This was a deer, or more specifically, elk stir-fry, with the meat turning out tough and chewy.

In terms of its size, however, it was huge, and accompanied with plenty of nicely cooked fluffy rice. Nevertheless, while the sweet-chilli sauce required said rice to temper the sweetness, overall, this was decent without being anything spectacular.

Camaron Prawns Rs. 900

You can imagine how our excitement was instantly peaked when presented with arguably the biggest, most mouthwatering freshwater prawns we’d ever encountered.

Although the vegetables in this dish were small and quite underwhelming, the same wasn’t true of those crustaceans.

While still managing to retain that tender springiness of perfectly cooked prawn, these were so juicy and succulent that we could have had a dozen more and still asked for more.

Homemade Lemon Pickle

In fact, we wouldn’t hesitate in using the cliche that these are, honestly speaking, worth travelling for!

Chef Ganessen also persuaded us to give his homemade lemon pickle a go, insisting that they were worth it.

As seasoned pickle-munchers, we can confirm that this was a really good one.

The strips of lemon here, while not being overly sour, were enhanced in flavour by the lightly spiced pickle.

Pan Fried Chicken with French Fries and Salad Rs. 300

From the kids menu we ordered chicken and chips. A simple dish done really well, with the quality of the poultry, coated as it was in a light and crispy batter, being obvious. There’s simply no substitute for organic chicken is there?

Pineapple Ice Cream Rs. 300

This pineapple and ice cream dessert was a real treat. Again, simply done, with soft, caramelised cinnamon-infused pineapple, cardamom and lots of sweet hot syrup.

And though the scoop of vanilla ice cream added a cold contrast, perhaps an extra element might be considered for textural contrast.

Chocolate Moose Rs.300

A relatively light chocolate moose which was satisfying enough, being neither milky nor overly dark in taste.

And after a good meal, we’d recommend heading back outdoors to admire more of that lush greenery and psychedelic hills.