Restaurants in Southwestern France
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Brasserie La Cigale
No visit to Nantes is complete without joining the old ladies with perfectly manicured hair for a coffee and cake or an all-out feast at 1890s Brasserie La Cigale. Several salons of original gilded tilework and frescoed ceilings are attended by white-aproned waiters.
reviewed
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Le Sélect
A spiral wooden staircase leads to an upper mezzanine level at this arty café/restaurant/salon de thé, with mellow jazz playing in the background. The huge sandwich board is chalked with daily specials including reliable favourites like salads, steak and fries.
reviewed
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La Guingette
On weekends especially, drop by La Guingette, when locals congregate for board-game tournaments, French tapas, and a drink at the boat-shaped timber bar. It's across the river in the village-like quarter of Trentemoult.
reviewed
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La Tupina
Filled with the aroma of soup simmering inside an old tupina ('kettle' in Basque) over an open fire, this white-tableclothed place is feted far and wide for its seasonal southwestern French specialities such as a minicasserole of foie gras and eggs, milk-fed lamb or goose wings with potatoes and parsley. A €16 lunch menu is available on weekdays. La Tupina is a 10-minute walk upriver from the city centre and on a small side street. Any local can point you in the right direction.
reviewed
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Le Soleil Brille Pour Tout Le Monde
There's a distinctly bohemian air to this excellent little place, decked out in hippy colours. Some highly original (often vegetarian-based) dishes originate from the kitchen, much of them inspired by the tropical French islands of Réunion and Martinique. As much as possible, all the produce used here comes from the nearby market and you can really tell – plus it's one of those all-too-rare French restaurants not afraid to experiment with spices. Advance reservations are essential.
reviewed
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André
Opened in the 1950s as a small seafood café, André grew so popular it began buying adjacent shops. There's now a maze of interconnecting rooms, each with its own individual ambience (like a portholed cabin) but all serving succulent seafood caught the night before. You can choose your fanciful denizens of the deep from the display tables outside: 'Hello, Mr Crab, you look tasty. I'm going to gobble you up,' and with that he'll be thrown in a pan of hot water.
reviewed
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La Bôite à Huîtres
This rickety, wood-panelled little place feels like an Arcachon fisherman's hut. It's a sensation that's quite appropriate because this is by far the best place in Bordeaux to munch on fresh Arcachon oysters. Traditionally they're served with sausage but you can have them in a number of different forms, including with that other southwest delicacy, foie gras. They'll also pack them up so you can take them away for a riverfront picnic.
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Chiloa Gurmenta Restaurant
As Basque as a game of pelota, this simple and rustic little restaurant, located inside a former brothel, serves one thing and one thing only: axoa. A Basque farmers' dish, axoa originates from the nearby village of Espelette and consists of minced veal with Espelette peppers, rice, potato and whatever else is lying around. Anne, your host for the evening, could work in show business.
reviewed
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Les Quatre Sergents
Set inside a beautifully tiled, historic former greenhouse, it's still a jungle in here today with plants scrambling upward to the height of trees. Don't worry though, nothing else about this place is as untamed as the Congo; this is the city's premier address for white-tableclothed elegance and gastronomic French fare such as frogs' legs in a creamy pineau (sweet white wine with a Cognac base) sauce.
reviewed
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Le Café de la Aquarium
The Aquarium's café serves refined regional cuisine using whatever's in season locally (including a surprising amount of seafood!). There are great harbour views from the dining room and, if that weren't enough, you can also watch giant sharks cruising about – a selling point we're pretty sure nowhere else in La Rochelle can match! The café is open to nonaquarium visitors as well, but sadly you can't leave the aquarium for lunch and re-enter on the same ticket.
reviewed
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Le Cheverus Café
In a city full of neighbourhood bistros, this one, smack in the city centre, is one of the most impressive. It's friendly, cosy and chaotically busy (be prepared to wait for a table at lunchtime). The food tastes fresh and home-cooked and it dares to veer slightly away from the bistro standards of steak and chips. The lunch menus, which include wine, are an all-out bargain.
reviewed
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Les Flots
You'll feel like you're floating in the water at this place by the Tour de la Chaîne with fabulous port views and sunshine streaming in through timber-framed windows. Another string in chef Grégory Coutanceau's bow (he also has several other restaurants, and a catering sideline), this place is especially renowned for its stylishly presented seafood.
reviewed
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Cassolette Café
Extremely popular and great value, this is the place to come for hearty French family-style cooking. You can order the ingredients of your cassolette (casserole cooked on a terracotta plate) using a check-off form and your choices appear promptly. Weekend nights have been known to get a bit rowdy with song-singing students, but it's all good fun.
reviewed
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Bar-Restaurant du Marché
Run by a welcoming Basque-speaking family, this unpretentious place is an absolute institution where everyone knows everyone (and therefore some people may find it slightly intimidating, but don't worry; just dive right in – nobody cares!) and simple but ample home-cooked dishes full of the flavours of the neighbouring market are dished up to all comers.
reviewed
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Le Bistrot de l'Écrivain
Splashed in shades of red, with wine bottles lining the walls, Le Bistrot de l'Écrivain is a relaxed and easygoing place with food that's anything but relaxing and easy to make. There's all the Nantaise standards here, but most have an unexpected twist to them – raspberries in crème brûlée and duck dipped in wonderful sauces being just two examples.
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L'Estaquade
Set on stilts, this place juts out off the river's eastern bank. The seafood (bass, cod, scampi, scallops etc) and meat dishes (like pigeon with port and blackcurrant sauce) served here even manage to eclipse the magical views of Bordeaux' neoclassical architecture. From place de la Bourse, you'll see the restaurant on the other side of the river.
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La Criée Bayonnaise
Decked out in marine colours, this unassuming little find does delicious Basque seafood specialities (such as les chipirons à l'espagnole – squid with sweet peppers served with finely ground rice), but you can also get fresh mussels and even fish and chips. For dessert, don't miss the ardi gasna (local cheese with cherry jam).
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Al Piccola Ristorante
Every lunchtime a queue of hopefuls forms at the door of this minute restaurant that's essentially just someone's front room. The reward for all that waiting are the beautifully crafted, homemade Italian dishes that'll leave you feeling like you're living la dolce vita. If you don't want to join the hopefuls at the door, book ahead.
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L'Entrecôte
Opened in 1966, this unpretentious place doesn't take reservations and it has only one menu option. But Bordeaux locals continue to queue for its succulent thin-sliced meat (heated underneath by tea-light candles and topped with a 'secret recipe' sauce made from shallots and bone marrow), salad and unlimited homemade frites.
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Bateaux Nantais
For a romantic night out and about, glide along the River Erdre with an ever-changing view of chateaux as you dine aboard Bateaux Nantais , accompanied by ambient music, local Muscadet wines, and chef-prepared regional specialties. There are regular departures in summer; in winter boats operate only when there are sufficient numbers.
reviewed
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Le Croc-Loup
In the elegant Croc-Loup, small lamps and heavy curtains create a discreet and intimate atmosphere that can seem a trifle formal. The menu, however, is highly innovative: squid ravioli with coriander or gigolette of chicken with foie gras - all of the dishes are prepared with great skill and at very reasonable prices.
reviewed
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La Serrurerie
Showcasing local art, sculpture and a fantastic collection of retro toys, this mosaic-and-steel bistro-bar is Poitiers' communal lounge-dining room. A chalked blackboard menu lists specialities like tournedos (thick slices) of salmon, pastas and a crème brûlée you'll be dreaming about until your next visit.
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Casa Juan Pedro
Down by the old port, which is something of a hidden little village of wooden fishing cottages and old-timers, is this cute little fishing-shack restaurant. The gregarious atmosphere ensures that you can wash down your tuna, sardines or squid with plenty of friendly banter from both the staff and other customers. There are several similar neighbouring places.
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Le Clos Basque
With its tiles and exposed stonework hung with abstract art, this tiny place could have strayed in from Spain. The cuisine, however, is emphatically Basque, traditional with a contemporary twist or two, such as sirloin with green mustard, or stuffed eggplant with saffron. Reserve ahead to secure a terrace table.
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La Calypso
With beamed ceilings, red tablecloths and a cosy open fireplace flickering in the chillier months, this good-natured restaurant is an amiable place to tuck into specialities like sole stuffed with crab, honey-glazed duck, and a delicious bouillabaisse arcachonnaise made from local sea critters.
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