Gourmet Bordeaux

So is there anything to eat?

Because of the region's renown in the world of  wine the bordelais cuisine is often overlooked and greater emphasis is placed on the accompanying wine than the food itself. While Gourmand’s may argue about attributing a particular delicacy or dish to a specific area for most of us the description ‘south-west France’ is sufficient provenance and which side of the Garonne supplied the cepes, lamphrey, or chestnuts matters little.

To the north lies the Perigord which claims to be the ‘larder of France’ and to the south-east lies Gascony where they claim that God must be a Gascon because he gave them the best ingredients and cuisine. Not so far distant is the Pays Basque whose natives were drawn to Bordeaux in large numbers during the 19th and early 20 centuries and brought their own culinary traditions. Historically the city benefitted from a large fishing fleet that under sail ventured as far as the Newfoundland Banks. Further, until over-fishing destroyed the stock of native sturgeon, the Gironde could boast its own caviar in addition to eels, shrimp, Zander, trout, salmon cockles, welk...

 
                 
                 A traditional (and rare) Bar-Cave done with style - Quartier St Michel

But probably the ’signature’ bordelais dishes are:

•  Beefsteak Bordelais cooked over a fierce fire of vine clippings;
•  white wine and oysters as a  Sunday morning breakfast on the riverfront;
•  and the sweet little Caneles (crisp custards?) that the bordelais claim as part of their particular  patrimoine.

(Okay, there is lots more to the local cuisine than these dishes but these are my favourites).


                          

      Caneles beckoning
           from a shop
               window








But eating out in Bordeaux is more than about local ingredients and handed-down recipes its also about being a port for a large empire that brought food (and cooks) from Polynesia, North, and west Africa, the Caribbean, Louisiana, Quebec and south-east asia. Moroccan tagine restaurants rub shoulders with Irish pubs and Vietnamese noodle shops while just down the street are Fin-de-Ciecle  restaurants and street corner creperie.
 

If you venture outside of the city you are faced with the choice of solid bourgeois cuisine at small town restaurants or ’menu du terroir’ at the Hôtel Les Feuilles d'Acanthe  or the cuisine Landaise of Marie-Jo at Uzeste (Sous la tonnelle)  or simple fish restaurants at  Blaye, Cap Feret or Arcachon. Bazas of course boasts its own breed of beef  while everywhere there is confit de canard, foie gras and frites maison cooked in goose fat.

Of course there is less choice for vegetarians but the oft-repeated view that the french offered only a diet of omelettes and green salads is out of date. The French are nothing if not hospitable and if you arrive early at a restaurant, or better still book ahead and let them know you seek a vegetarian option, most establishments will take pride in rising to the challenge. 

And if for a special meal you seek something a little more elegant,  a little more traditional - Le Chapon Fin has occupied the same premises for more than 150 years and offers a wine list that compliments its menu of haute cuisine, in a setting that has been updated but not modernised.

On the other hand, if your tastes run to more basic fayre and vin de table then this establishment above in Rue St Francois is open 7 days a week.

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