We knew Bordeaux for its gastronomic institutions and its famous regional cuisine, traditional and generous ... Unfortunately, in need of renewal.
But in recent years, the city has acquired a new reputation as a leading bistronomic destination, opening up to culinary traditions from all over the world, between institutions and young shoots as exciting as they are promising.
Read the file: Weekend in Bordeaux: the Figaro travel guide
The avant-gardists having made school
Garopapillae
Surprising oyster from the Médoc covered with coconut-mint and cecina powder.
Magali Maricot
We no longer present this address, which in 2014 was one of the first to ignite the new Bordeaux gastronomic scene. Located rue de l'Abbé de l'Épée, chef Tanguy Laviale's elegant starred bistro is already a treat for pupils: a patio-glass roof bathed in light, soft colors and minimalist furniture, as delicate as the service and the plate. If in the past the evening menu was dictated, today you can compose your menu in 3, 4 or 5 sequences. With, among the memorable dishes, a blue lobster with peach quarters and black tea sauce, a surprising Medoc oyster covered with coconut-mint and cecina powder, and for dessert, jubilant jubilee cherries, marigold ice cream and brioche . In the glasses? More than 800 references of natural, organic and biodynamic wines.
The price:
tasting menu in 3, 4 or 5 courses at 40-60-80 € (noon) and 65-80-95 € (evening) excluding drinks.
The address:
Garopapilles, 62 rue Abbé de l'Épée, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 09 72 45 55 36.
Symbiosis
Symbiose offers exquisite dishes, based on products from its permaculture vegetable garden.
Press photo / Symbiose
This is a concept that we have rarely seen elsewhere in France. A speakeasy coupled with a bistronomic table. Or how to combine good food and fine beverages. In this ex-Benedictine cellar on the Quai des Chartrons, we come to sip from 7 pm on a “Handsome Mush” aged in Dame-Jeanne, based on tonic and shiitake reduction, nardini Rabarbaro, suze infused with cinnamon and buffalo Trace. Bourbon, before moving on to the exquisite dishes of chef Félix Clerc, with products directly from their "Jardin des Landes", a vegetable garden cultivated in permaculture 50km from Bordeaux: ricotta ravioli from the Burdigala dairy with lemon, pickled duck breast and smoked aubergine and black garlic condiment, and for dessert, a delicious chocolate tart and Bellevoye Whiskey, salted butter caramel, cocoa crumble and whipped cream… House, of course.
The price:
menu € 15-27 (noon).
Carte 31-36 € (evening) excluding drinks.
The address:
Symbiose, 4, quai des Chartrons, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 05 56 23 67 15.
Read also: From Bayonne to Bordeaux, five tables for a gourmet break on the coast
These young tables that are talked about
Pastel
Pastel brings colors back to market cuisine.
Press photo / Pastel
It is while walking along the luminous Quai des Chartrons that we come across this young table in the name of the most soothing. In a long room with open kitchen, beige walls, Baumann chairs and polished concrete on the floor, a swarming team is active around chef Louis Richard, trained at the Ferrandi school and having cut his teeth under two stars in Arbois before. to dock in Bordeaux. On the program of festivities, simple and charming plates, which give some color to the endless "market cuisine": fine zucchini stuffed with homemade ricotta, hummus with coral lentils and peppermint, rack of veal with butternut, satay sauce and squash seeds, and delicious honey fig soup, Timut pepper ice cream and nut cakes. In the glasses,a very honorable selection of natural wines, which gives pride of place to young winegrower creation.
The price:
lunch menus from 18 to 21 €.
Evening menus from € 29 to € 41 excluding drinks.
The address:
Pastel, 2 quai des Chartrons, 33300 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 09 70 98 62 20.
Lauza
Lauza serves bistro cuisine that is straightforward and never pretentious.
Press photo / Lauza
It's a cozy and gently bohemian canteen, a stone's throw from Place Pey Berland, which serves fine bistro cuisine, obviously… local and seasonal. One more ? Certainly, but this one stands out very clearly by the frankness with which the young duo composed of Romain Schlumberger and Barbara Michelon send dishes that are both tasty and never pretentious, like this Pyrenean trout gravlax on soft blini. buckwheat and sprouts from the garden, or even this pampered pork in Aquitaine, half-roasted, half-stuffed, accompanied by butternut, sage and pomegranate. With a chocolate cream for dessert accompanied by a honey and walnut tart, refreshed with a pear and galangal sorbet. In the glasses, a very democratic selection of wines, alternating naturalness and classicism.
The price:
menu 23 € (noon).
Tasting menu in 4 and 5 courses from 48 to 55 € (evening) excluding drinks.
The address:
Lauza, 5 rue du Hâ, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 05 56 52 76 59.
Read also: From Bordeaux to Cap Ferret, seven gourmet restaurants on the Aquitaine coast
French cuisine brought up to date
Solena
Chef Victor Ostronzec composes French cuisine touched by grace.
Press photo / Solena
It is a discreet address, a stone's throw from rue Judaïque, with a decor that contrasts with what one expects from a starred restaurant. There is no white tablecloth here, but a room with futuristic accents with neon lights, pale pink tones and funny bowler hat lights. In the kitchen, the thirty-something Victor Ostronzec creates a menu in 3, 4 or 6 steps, where we find a French cuisine touched by grace, like these quenelles of langoustine and white truffle, watercress cream and bisques of heads, or these glazed sweetbreads with candied onions, Ossau Iraty and Medoc chanterelles, before finishing on a fine rum baba seasoned with an espuma of herbs. All accompanied by a rather wise wine list, but a very charming service.
The price:
menu 35 € (Friday noon).
4, 5, 6-course tasting menu at € 59-75-95 excluding drinks.
The address:
Soléna, 5 rue chauffour, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 05 57 53 28 06.
One hundred 33
Warm octopus salad with salicornia and avocado cream.
Julie bruhier
On the edge of the peaceful Jardin Public, chef Fabien Beaufour and his wife Emilie opened a bright neo-bistro in 2019: the Cent33. Noon and night, the adopted Bordelais satisfies the appetite and thirst for novelty of a clientele who come here to seek French cuisine with just the right amount of daring, in the form of plates to share: octopus in warm salad à la salicornia and avocado cream, half-lobster and sea urchins in hot-cold, roasted mini-corn and Espelette pepper sauce, charbonnier in robatayaki (Japanese oven) lacquered with miso ... And for dessert, juicy figs in foil , gingerbread in thin tiles and vanilla ice cream - brought back from Tahiti by a generous customer. Wine list good in all respects, and a perfectly balanced service, between discretion and efficiency.
The price:
6-course tasting menu at € 70 (lunch and dinner), plates to share from € 16 to € 34.
The address:
Le Cent33, 133, Rue du Jardin Public, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 05 56 15 90 40.
Read also: 48 hours in Bordeaux, between bistronomy and a new arty scene
Modjo
Modjo offers a blind menu in four or six courses in the evening.
Press photo / Modjo
At the end of 2018, Quentin Maurouard and Benoît Gofron, two 30-year-old chefs - who had cut their teeth in Bristol or at Robuchon - returned their aprons, abandoning the 3-stars to open a modern gastro in the heart of Bordeaux. A space crossing from one street to another with white walls, exposed stones, dark benches and pendant lights from the ceiling, where you can sit down for a blind evening menu in four or six courses. If the dressing of the plates is a bit outdated, we can only salute the inventiveness of the chef when it comes to marrying the flavors: here acidity, there a bit of bitterness… You have to concentrate to keep the thread, but the surprise effect is renewed with each dish. An example: this ice cream of peas with peppermint,Passion fruit sorbet and flying fish roe with wasabi.
The price:
menu at 26 € (noon).
4 and 6 course tasting menu at € 47-64 excluding drinks.
The address:
Modjo, 74 Cours d'Alsace-et-Lorraine, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone.
: 05 56 30 92 91.
Kitchens from elsewhere
Mampuku
Marinated and fried mackerel, wakame seaweed, ginger and pickles.
Press photo / Mampuku
Anyone angry with fusion cuisine should sit down at Mampuku - literally "Full Belly" in Japanese. At the helm of this now unmissable downtown address, a trio made up of Frenchman Arnaud Lahaut, Israeli Gil Elad and Japanese Ayako Ota. In a room with stone vaults with a large curved counter, guests have the heavy task of choosing (and sharing) 4, 6 or 8 generous dishes with Oriental-Japanese influences, among which a memorable marinated and fried mackerel, seaweed wakame, ginger and pickles, a fondant marinated and smoked lamb, tahini sauce, zaatar, honey, Persian lemon and celeriac, or for dessert an enveloping ice cream with fermented milk, pear, saffron, pistachios and honey. In the glasses, a selection of wines from around the world that can be disconcerting,but rarely disappoint.
The price:
menus at 16-19 € (noon).
4-course menus and dessert or tasting of the entire menu at € 29-36 excluding drinks.
The address:
Mampuku.
9, rue Ausone, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone: 05 56 81 18 75.
Read also: Wine tourism: in Bordeaux, another facet of Sauternes
Tentazioni
At Tentazioni, a disarming Sardinian cuisine of delicacy.
Press photo / Tentazioni
If transalpine gastronomy seems to be flourishing in Bordeaux, with trendy addresses such as Primi, Chiocchio or Echo, one cannot miss the Sardinian cuisine of chef Giovanni Pireddu. A Michelin star on the counter, a small dining room that frankly does not look pretty, and disarming dishes of delicacy - with a completely affordable lunch formula: warm salad of potatoes, herring and goat yogurt sauce, homemade maccheroncini with calamari and sausage, sweet panna cotta with lime ... In the evening, you can opt for a tasting menu in 6 sequences: subtle cuttlefish tartare with glazed fennel, oysters seasoned with a touch of vintage caviar from Sturia, authentic fregola Sardinian stew of shellfish and crustaceans. Not to mention an Italian wine list full of treasures.
The price:
menus at 25-29 € (noon).
6-course menu at € 85 (evening) excluding drinks.
The address:
Tentazioni, 59 rue du Palais Gallien.
Phone.
: 05 56 52 62 12.
Ishikawa
After having cut his teeth in a traditional Tokyo restaurant, chef Yugo Ishikawa took up residence and restaurant in Bordeaux, near the Saint-André cathedral. With a concept to say the least surprising: a Bordeaux cuisine revisited with Japanese sauce. In a room with clean lines that would almost make us feel the atmosphere of the confidential tables of Tokyo - with hanging fabric panels, dark walls and blond wood counter - we indulge in the tasting menu where classic sashimi and tempura are linked. , before moving on to a delicious grilled duck breast with miso, and finishing with a gourmet tiramisu with banana and sponge cake with matcha tea. Nice wine list of Bordeaux, to which we nevertheless prefer an exciting selection of sakes.
The price:
menus at 18-36 € (noon).
6-course tasting menu at 38 € (evening) excluding drinks.
The address:
Ishikawa, 22 rue du Hâ, 33000 Bordeaux.
Phone: 05.57.99.71.69
