Some Bordeaux Food Tips For Your Mouth

I’ve been sitting on this post pretty much since we moved here, as I find it inappropriate to write about a place I’ve barely scratched the surface of and I’d like to avoid my entire identity becoming ‘a person who moved to France and is shooting their mouth off when they know absolutely nothing’. That said people ask me for Bordeaux food tips all the time and rather than writing the same DM over and over again, with nary a thank you in sight, from here on out I’ll just send people this link instead.

This post is a work in progress, as I find more places I like, places close or quality goes down. So do check back. Please note when I go out for food with friends I focus on the company, so the photography is what it is.

Lunch in Bordeaux

I mostly lunch in Bordeaux, as we live slightly over an hour away and I don’t like driving home in the dark as half the route involves country roads. I try to make it out to lunch however, at least once a month. Please note lunch service generally differs from dinner service, as lunch service generally involves a 2 to 3 course set menu.

In France employers have to provide their staff with a proper meal around lunch time or provide a voucher with a 25 euro spend limit, which can be used at restaurants as well as in supermarkets, which is why most restaurants provide a decent but limited 2 to 3 course lunch for under 25 euros. Lunch menu’s usually change daily and there’s usually no or limited choice between one or two dishes per course.

Where I get my Bordeaux tips from

Most of my tips I find through people that actually live in Bordeaux, and I find Gourmet Shit (what’s in a name), Britta Wiegelman and Pierrick Falmon (proprietor of Snickelfritz and Blacklist Cafe) are my most reliable sources to find new places I’d like to hit up.

You can find a Google Map of places I have tried or would like to try (as well as some spots important to me personally, think bookstores, museums and Asian supermarkets) here. The list is continuously updated as places close and I try stuff and hate it, so be aware of that. As I am not rich nor brimming with energy, I have not been everywhere so you might end up somewhere that sucks. I sometimes forget to add where I got a tip from or why I saved a restaurant. I also like a particular style of restaurant so a lot of these places may not be for you. Just a heads up.

On to the most important advice.

Cassonade for cannelés

Cassonade is one of the best places to have cannelés in Bordeaux. There are three locations, they make them fresh daily and they are the only cannelés that are good in my humble opinion. Crispy on the outside, kind of an airy custard within. The Saint James, an orange almond affair that holds a solid middle between a cookie and a cake is also amazing, just be aware that the rum icing makes this a boozy affair that may hit you hard if you’re not expecting it.

Warning: do not go to any of the red awninged cannelés spots that dot the city, both chains have had recent issues with hygiene and the way they treat their staff. It doesn’t help that their cannelés are gross and soggy either.

Boulangerie Louis Lamour

Best boulangerie in the city, though I may feel this way cause I’ve barely tried anywhere else. Their beirutaise croissant, filled with goat’s cheese and pine nuts and topped with za’atar, is the best croissant upgrade in the world.

Snickelfritz

Best donuts I’ve had in my life (before I went to Boneshaker in Paris, though in a competition they’d both be number one for me), and I’m maybe also mentioning them because we collabed on some Sichuan pepper cream filled donuts this year as well. But really they’re just really solid fluffy donuts with both classic and more inventive flavors on offer. Definitely try the hibiscus and the spicy mango now that my Sichuan pepper cream filled donut is no longer available.

If you want something more substantial for lunch do have a saunter around the corner to Blacklist Cafe that offers a very good US-inspired lunch/ brunch menu, with coffees to boot and usually also has some Snickelfritz donuts in supply.

Bordeaux Best Boulangerie and History Walking Tour

If you’re looking for a fun morning exploring Bordeaux, I highly recommend taking the Bordeaux’ Best Boulangerie tour. While it’s mostly advertised as a boulangerie tour, Nikesh takes you on a 3 hour walk through the city telling you about the history of the city, as well as its current make-up. There’s a lot of info on the tour I was unaware of regarding both Bordeaux and France (I won’t spoiler it for you) and on this stroll Nikesh takes you past (and inside of) three of his Bordeaux favorite boulangeries. At each stop you get to try one or two pastries and there’s is time to stock up on your own.

I was invited to try this tour by Nikesh and I really enjoyed it. If you want a good impression of the city and its history, as well as a handful of boulangeries and the various pastries and breads on offer, this a great way to spend a morning. You can book the tours through his website. There are group tours of up to 10 people max, but you can also book private tours. Pastries, bread, a drink and a few stops on the tram are all included, as well as his Bordeaux en Bref city guide when you finish the tour. The tour is available in English, French and Spanish.

Au Bistrot

If you want more classic French food Au Bistrot is my favorite place for that. They source their ingredients from the Marche des Capucins, which is covered in a horrible 1980’s car park these days but has been home to a weekly (now daily and very worthy of a visit) market since 1749 . Au Bistrot is where I take people who’ve come for the classic French food experience.

They have a great wine menu and offer their full menu for lunch, so choice abounds compared to other places. Portions are ample and all served with the most insanely perfectly cooked seasonal vegetable selection I’ve ever had alongside this incredible jus. You really can’t go wrong with this one.

Baston (closed?)

As I understand it, Baston used to be more of a boulangerie that sometimes ran a dinner service, that switched to full restaurant service this year. The menu still does have a strong bread focus, as showcased by the brioche with tarama and pimenton above.

They are also very into their offals here, recently I spotted an agadashi dofu dish in their IG stories but made with tête de veau . This is a more modern French restaurant that veers on the experimental side and isn’t shy to add umami or heat, which always makes for more exciting eating in my book.

Note Baston announced in August 2025 that they were moving out of the city and may now be closed.

Echo

Another ‘younger’ French restaurant, their house Cheninpan (70%Chenin, 30% Colombard – in collaboration with Les Chais du Port de la Lune) is divine and the Echo menu is competently experimental (complimentary). With mild Asian influences, this is another place that doesn’t shy away from adding umami or heat to their menu so it’s another winner in my book.

Demeter

I love the space at Demeter, it’s all curved wood and old stone, and the food was amazing as well. The crudo de thon with fennel and fried bread was especially memorable and is usually on the menu.

Demeter also boasts an exciting and interesting wine list, more suitable for wine noobs like me as it explains the different notes for each wine on offer. I had a very thrilling Alsace wine with Japanese influences, Gyotaku, that I’ve been hankering for ever since.

Panaille

Every year in Bordeaux they have an oeufs mayonaisse competition and Panaille was 2025’s winner so I had to go. They’re a little out of the way from the city center, and they have a lovely internal court yard that gives you a nice inside-out vibe for warm summer days. We had a three course meal, plus the oeufs mayo and a very nice cocktail, all very good and an absolute steal at 30 euros a head.

La Rencontre

La Rencontre is a relatively new French-Italian restaurant in Bordeaux, run by a French-Italian couple. I had a very nice mussel and razor clam dish with carrot coulis, pictured above, as well as a really good tataki. The house made bread is insane.

Some other options for which I have no photographs

I don’t know where the photos went but these places were also very good. Ishikawa is a proper Japanese restaurant that offers a set menu for lunch, don’t try to deviate from it or you will be told off, but the food is extremely good and the sakes are divine. Mets Mots offers a good lunch option barely out of the way from the city center.

L’avant Comptoir du Palais does nice little sharing plates, but it does get points deducted because it only has those high bar-style seats that old people like me aren’t comfortable on for very long, the food does make it worth it though. Le 1544, upstairs at L’Observatoire du Gabriel, does an okay more modern classic French (if you know what I mean) lunch, with excellent views of the river. If you can afford to definitely try dinner there instead.

Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague isn’t a restaurant but a very exciting tinned fish specialist, with tinned fish from all over the world. It’s just a must-see shop for a food nerd, and sometimes they’ll have a little lunch menu or have an evening tasting program as well, so definitely worth keeping an eye on for when you’re in town or to bring back treats for friends. Just make sure you’ve got check-in luggage for that.

There’s another tinned fish shop close-by, La Belle-Iloise, which is just a singular French tinned fish brand that is also nice to seek out. It’s especially nice to get a stack of different vintages of their sardines to really taste the different between each year, the shop sellers will tell you the weather conditions for each year and which year they think is best.

A note on parking

I like to park at either Allées de Chartres or Meriadeck  Both have ample space and allow for easy walks into the city. French people tend to find parking garages expensive, but I am used to Amsterdam parking rates and your French parking rates are pennies on the dollar for me. That said a lot of the Bordeaux garages are very narrow, tiny and dark, and these two have larger parking spaces. One of them is part of a sort of mall and the other is in broad daylight under a canopy of trees. If you’re a woman you’ll get why this matters.