When it comes to travelling in France, choosing the best typical French food of the region you come to is always an issue. What are the specialties? where can I eat them? At what price? All these questions may make your head spin. That is the reason why we decided to show you this Bordeaux food menu; because you should have headaches after a pubcrawl instead of when you chose what to eat.
“Qui suis-je ? où vais-je ? Qu’est-ce qu’on mange à midi ?”
José Artur
Starter:
“Tartine Basque”
To some extent “Tartine Basque” is the fanciest fast food you will ever find in Bordeaux. Indeed, it is a typical starter in the south west of France. It is a slice of bread covered with piperade (sauce made with olive oil, tomatoes, sweet peppers as well as onions) and ham.
The “Tartine Basque” is affordable and simple to do if you want to impress your friends at a French “apéro”. Moreover, you can find a lot of recipes to cook it yourself online like at aux-fourneaux.fr that gives you the version of Philippe Etchebest, a famous French chef from Bordeaux.
Otherwise, if you prefer to try this dish in a restaurant, you can find it at “L’Autre Petit Bois”, in the city center of Bordeaux. Although this eating house is specialized in classic “Tartines ”, it has learned how to decline this starter, with different ingredients such as salmon, goat cheese or avocado. A “Tartine Basque” there will cost you less than 10 euros.
Starter 2:
“Gratton de Lormont”
The “gratton” is a type of pâté, made with pieces of pork in a cooking pot. In fact, the word “gratton” comes from the fact that you have to constantly scrub (“gratter” in French) the bottom of the cooking pot while you cook the pâté.
Although Inhabitants of Lormont (North-east of Bordeaux) claim to be the inventors of this dish, “gratton” is present in the entire country. You can now find “gratton” in cities such as Lyon (South-east of France).
Perfect on a slice of bread, this starter is again great if you have friends coming over. Moreover, you can buy “gratton de Lormont” at Bordeaux’s butcher’s shops for around 20 euros per kilogram.
Main course:
“Entrecôte bordelaise”
This main course is fixed to Bordeaux’s culture, and is also a good way to be drunk without drinking. It is a side of beef cooked on dry vine with red wine from Bordeaux and shallots.
Many years ago, when winegrowers firstly invented this dish, they used to cook the meat on vine stock. Nowadays, the recipe is the same, but chefs cook the side of beef on vine shoots. It is a very famous main course in Bordeaux, that you will be able to eat for example in “Moelleuses & Persillées”, a good restaurant in Chartrons specialized in cured meat, for the price of 15 euros.
Dessert:
“Cannelés”
You cannot talk about Bordeaux’s desserts without mentioning “cannelés”. These spongy cakes are THE typical dessert of the city. their composition is very similar to crêpes, but with more sugar and some rum. Cooks bake them in copper baking tin, which gives them this caramelized look on the outside.
Nuns created “Cannelés” in the 18th century and these cakes became very popular in the 30’s. After the Second World War, “Cannelés” became out of fashion. But since the 80’s “Cannelés” have come back under the spotlights and their popularity never stopped growing.
This dessert is an unmissable of Bordeaux’s gastronomy. If you want to buy this sweet treat, you can go for example to “La Toque Cuivrée”, a very famous cake shop in Bordeaux specialized in “cannelés”. A “cannelé” will cost you 0.70 euros.
Dessert 2:
“Puits d’Amour”
French chef Vincent La Chapelle created this dessert. It is a cylindrical cake with a hollow, pastry cream or jam. Even though this treat does not come from Bordeaux, the chef Seguin revisited it and managed to create his own “Puit d’Amour”. His version of this pastry is flatter, more ethereal, and very famous in Bordeaux. They are so famous that people now consider “Puit d’Amour” as typical Bordeaux food.
If you want to give it a try, you will find chef Seguin’s “Puit d’Amour” at his own cake shop “Maison Seguin” in Chartrons or in atypical Bordeaux shops likes “Les Halles de Bacalan”. 6 “Puits d’Amour” will cost you 7.20 euros.
Dessert 3:
“Dunes Blanches”
“Dunes Blanches” are not exactly Bordeaux food. In fact, you can consider these treats as Cap-Ferret’s sweetest street food. Indeed, they are choux buns full of pastry cream. Since chef Pascal Lucas created them, they are as appreciated as “cannelés” in the south west of France. “Dunes Blanches” are essential if you want to organize a good picnic at Cap-Ferret with your friends, or after a surf session.
This little pastry will boost your spirit for the rest of the day. If you want to try it, you can buy it at Pascal Lucas’ cake shop in Cap-Ferret “Chez Pascal” for 0.80 euros, or at Bordeaux (Rue de la vieille Tour, Gambetta).
