Le Grand Minuscule: more than a restaurant, a space for conviviality and renewal in Lodève

Le restaurant a réouvert ses portes en 2021 dans la rue Neuve-des-Marchés à Lodève. Louise Gerbaud

In Lodève, the Grand Minuscule is much more than a restaurant: it is a friendly place where you can recharge your batteries and share warm moments around a table.

Seven o'clock is approaching, Beate and Jurgen Gude, as well as their children Dordjé and Eliza, put on their aprons and get busy in the kitchen and on the terrace. The first customers soon arrive. Inside, it is a festival of colors between the orange velvet of the benches, the carmine red wood of the tables, and the turquoise blue of the walls decorated with paintings and plants.
Four years ago, the cultural restaurant-café renamed Grand Minuscule by the couple was reborn at its new address, rue Neuve-des-Marchés, in a refurbished space. Although the challenge was considerable: “it was a period of crisis, with the closure due to covid, then the loss of our premises, we really wondered if it was over”, recalls Jurgen. Today, they would not return to their old restaurant for anything in the world, they say.

Dordjé participated in the numerous works to transform the old shoe store. Jürgen Gude

Nine months of intensive work

Thanks to the support of Mayor Gaëlle Lévêque, they were able to rent this former clothing store. « We had to rebuild everything, there wasn’not even a water supply », he continues.
The whole family, with the help of a few friends, got involved. Dordjé helped with the painting and Eliza, an architecture student, contributed to the plans: “It was great to see my drawings of the terrace take shape,” she says. Every day, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Beate and Jurgen did the work. « We changed professions for nine months », recalls the manager with a laugh.

Concerts and exhibitions are offered

The couple, who met at the Buddhist temple, settled in the region in 1998. Wishing to stay in Lodève, a city that they are very fond of, they decided after the 2008 crisis, to take over the Minuscule tea room located on Grand rue. « It started as a joke. I offered a daily special and people quickly came back to eat,” says Jurgen. They transformed the place into a restaurant and devoted themselves to it, while continuing to offer exhibitions and concerts to keep the soul of the place alive. Currently, a team of seven people runs the establishment.

Plates for all tastes

« Our wish was to offer something more to Lodève, something accessible to everyone and something artistic » continues Beate. An identity that is reflected even on the plate. Jurgen likes to talk about « fusion » to describe their cuisine: a mix of traditional French food and influences from around the world. « We tried to create a menu that would appeal to everyone, at affordable prices », he relates. They favour products from local producers as much as possible. It's the husband who cooks. Before becoming a journalist for Dutch television and producing documentaries, he had been trained in cooking by a French chef. “After a thirty-year break, here I am again” he jokes. As for his wife, she prepares pastries.

Travels to recharge your batteries

Beate, a former social worker in Germany, wanted to pass on the human values ​​she taught for the Lerab Ling Buddhist center in Roqueredonde: “I wanted to share love, respect, mindfulness beyond words, through the restaurant, the relationship with the customer, food.” For their family, eating and talking together around a table has always been essential. « Catering is more than just giving food, it is something that we share with people » explains the chef.
After the intense activity of the summer, the family has the custom of traveling abroad for a few months in the winter to recharge their batteries and draw inspiration from other cultures. « To give all year round, we must also receive and let others take care of us, with an exchange that nourishes us and restores us to start again even better &raquo Beate concluded with a kind smile.