I have posted on this before, but I truly enjoy food that is carefully and artfully prepared with fresh ingredients in the style of the place we are visiting. While in Bordeaux we had dinner at restaurants that fit this description.
The first night with Erin and Pat, we ate at La Brasserie Bordelaise which was recommended by the host of Villa Reale, the apartment where we were staying, located on la Place du Parlement where we stayed the first three nights in Bordeaux. It was close. A brasserie in France is a place that serves typical but simple dishes. One of the specials of the day was Lamprey (a primitive jawless fish that looks like an eel that feeds by attaching its sucker to other fish), which I had read is considered a delicacy in Bordeaux. I considered it, but when I questioned the waiter about it, he said it was his first day on the job and he brought over a colleague. He asked, “Do you know what it is?” and gave me a look that said more. Something that I interpreted as; buddy, you probably can’t handle it. I took his advice. No one at our table was disappointed with their choices, but a part of me wishes I had been a little more adventurous. Maybe it wasn’t fancy food but it was certainly good.
The second night we ate at a place that was recommended by our tour guide, Emiline. It was called Restaurant le Bouchon Bordelais where Pat and I had to try Le Beaujolais Nouveau. It was being featured (I think the phrase used by the waitress was, We are celebrating the arrival of Le Beaujolais Nouveau, one of my favorite times). Unfortunately, we chuckled a little, because we had no idea what it was, and that caused an awkward moment, because I think she thought we were laughing at her or the way she said something in English, when we were really just ignorant of what was being offered. So we lightened the moment by ordering a couple of glasses. I think it is a fresh wine made to drink, not to age. Even though it was different than what we were tasting at the châteaus, it was in my opinion a good recommendation. Pat and I opted to try the fixed price multi-course offering of the day. I like ordering dinner this way, because I don’t feel as guilty when it comes time to eat dessert. It is often my favorite part of the meal, especially in France. Everyone was happy with what they ordered and it was all artfully prepared.
The third night in Bordeaux (Pat and Erin went back to Paris to babysit) my wife and I ate at a place the host, Pierre, at the lovely B&B, La Chartreuse – Bordeaux, recommended. It was called Le Clemenceau. It was not too far from the B&B and was recommended because of the seafood selections. Again I went with the fixed price menu and it was all great.
The fourth dinner establishment we went to was a place I had been looking forward to since I read about it on trip advisor. It was a place called Blisss. It came up on a search of highly rated dinner experiences in Bordeaux, but it is not actually within the city limits. It was a 40 minute tram ride and a 15 minute walk. My wife was questioning my judgment on the way to the restaurant when, as she correctly stated, there are plenty of excellent restaurants closer to where we were staying. It made me a bit nervous because I knew the expectations would have to exceed her normal ones. Otherwise, the return trip to our room wouldn’t be a happy one. The name of the restaurant. Blisss, with an extra “s,” is an extremely high bar to reach; especially considering our other dining experiences had been so exceptional in the region. Fortunately it didn’t rain while we were walking, which worked in my favor. I was able to convince my wife that it was something I wanted to do and asked that she reserve voicing her opinion until she had at least tried what was on offer that evening. The restaurant opened and we were the first guests to be seated. Our hostess, Isabelle (and the wife of the chef), who I believe contacts each prospective dinner guest after you submit an electronic reservation, to make sure the guests are a proper fit for the dining experience. It is a unique experience, where they say on the website: “The restaurant where nothing is to choose from, everything is to be discovered.” Isabelle handed us a card with a list of ingredients and explained that each of the dishes we were about to be served would contain three of the ingredients on the card. Maybe other ingredients besides the three that you guess, but never more than three ingredients on the card would be used in each dish. Once you correctly identified the three ingredients you would then be served, when it was ready, the next dish. Those ingredients could not be used again on any of the remaining dishes. In theory, identifying the dishes’ ingredients should get easier as you reduce the number of unused ingredients on the card, but the card did contain more than the number of ingredients necessary; so that when the last dish was served there were more than three ingredients still on the list. Once my wife understood the rules of the night, she seemed ready to enjoy the challenge. That, along with Isabelle’s kind and welcoming demeanor, plus being served a nice glass of white wine (that Isabelle recommended), set things up for the wonderful evening. If you would like to see some photos from our meal at the restaurant click here. It turned out to be an exceptional and indeed a blissful evening. The Chef is a culinary genius and the kitchen produces artful and tasty creations worthy of the Michelin guide mention they have received. Thank you Isabelle and chef Anthony Aycaguer. My wife was pleased with my choice!
The last meal worth writing about in Bordeaux for this post was recommended by the hosts of L’Appart D’Oli et Tiane, (a unique apartment in the center of the historic district of Bordeaux, where we stayed the last four nights) called Modjo. It is located only a couple of blocks from the apartment. The food was delicious. Again the menu was fixed-price. You could choose the number of plates, but not what you were going to eat. At Modjo, you could avoid food allergies or sensitivities, because the waiter asked the question when you were seated (rather than pledging when you made the reservation that you didn’t have any food sensitivities, as you had to do to secure a reservation at Blisss). I highly recommend this restaurant, though I didn’t take many pictures. Click here for other photos from the city of Bordeaux, including some photos of food we were served. The first few pictures in the gallery are actually from Modjo. We were particularly impressed by the dessert presentation.
Disclaimer: I did my best to match the proper website to the place. They all were at the time of this posting secure websites. I was not paid for adding the links. I have noticed in the past that if you do not have a secure web browser, you can be routed to a site that tries to sell things I have not recommended or visited. Be careful!