​​​​​​​Un Si Grand Soleil: a place, a memory, an encounter… Benjamin Bourgois shares his Montpellier favorites

All summer long, we're meeting the actors from the France Télévision series Un Si Grand Soleil, filmed in Montpellier. Today, actor Benjamin Bourgois shares his favorite things about the region.

Their characters have become familiar to more than 3.5 million viewers. Every Friday during the summer, find an interview with an actor or actress from the television series broadcast on France 2. Each one shares their favorite things about Montpellier, the city where it was filmed. Benjamin Bourgois takes off his lieutenant's uniform for an interview.

A place to have a drink ?

Go for a coffee at Circle Square, passage de l’horloge, chez Joy. Quite simply.

A corner of nature ?

The nature corner is the Mérique park, it's very pretty and worth a visit. And then, it's a real corner of nature in Montpellier, like they don't see anymore. I love it.

The must-see restaurant ?

My favorite canteen is Les Bistronômes, Place de l'Europe. It's always homemade, the owner is super nice. And yes, in terms of canteens, that's really it, for me it's my canteen.

A memorable encounter ?

The meetings that mattered to me here were more my colleagues. For me it wasn't the people from Montpellier; I met a lot of really nice people from Montpellier. But it was more the people who work with me, who are mostly from Montpellier. But it was more people from my team, it's the comico. My meetings were Yvon Bach, Moïse Santamaria, Constantin Balzan, Aïssam Medhem – who I kiss but who is no longer here – Malya Roman and so on … they were my colleagues. That's my encounters, you can't test that.

The summer hit?

She's more of the artist of the summer. Because the summer hit itself, I don't have one. But she's an artist called Maro, who is a Portuguese singer, who does superb covers on Instagram. But above all who has albums of her own that I'm discovering a little bit. It's thanks to Billie Eilish who had loved one of her tracks, who had given her name on the Internet. I looked at what she was doing and this artist is superb. She has a magnificent voice and she is a superb artist, a Portuguese singer called Maro.

A guilty pleasure ?

The Brillat-Savarin with truffles which is a creamy cheese with a little truffle border ; There it is, a guilty pleasure. That and the cannelé also in sweet. I have many other guilty pleasures. Stop, don't torture me, please.

A book for this summer?

It's my bedside book, but it's been a long time since I read a word of it. But I'll say A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole. A must-read! If you want to have a laugh… A must-read, A Confederacy of Dunces. This is the book that I pretty much give to everyone.

A Southern Expression?

It's from the south, but it's not just from Montpellier. But it's sticky, oh my God it's sticky!