Food and wine are at the heart of life in Bordeaux.
The city and its surroundings now offer some of the best restaurants in France, on a par with Lyon & Paris. Here are our Bordeaux restaurants top picks!
Our favourite restaurants in the city of Bordeaux
Le Chapon Fin
This is one of Bordeaux’s oldest and most well-known establishments. Its history goes back more than a hundred years: its astonishing interior was created in 1900.
Now under the eye of Bordeaux’s famous Sylvie Cazes and her young and talented team, including Chef Nicolas Nguyen Van Hai, who has previously shown his abilities at starred restaurants in Paris and elsewhere in Southwestern France.
The Chapon Fin's superb cellar counting more than 800 references (not just from Bordeaux), includes treasures like 1928 Château d’Yquem, 1986 Pétrus, 1955 Lascombes, 1985 Dom Perignon and 16 vintages of Château Mouton Rothschild. But head sommelier Leagh Barkley also searches out accessible wines in terms of both price and enjoyment.
You can share the restaurant’s passion for wine with a guided tour of the almost two-hundred-year-old cellar before or after your meal.
Le Pressoir d’Argent by Gordon Ramsay
This Gordon Ramsay Michelin starred restaurant is set in the town’s sumptuous Grand Hotel opposite the Opera House and is well worth the extravagance.
The menu changes seasonally, focusing on local products including foie gras from the Landes, South of Bordeaux, organic vegetables from the Basque Country, Bazas’ beef and oysters from the Bay of Arcachon.
The restaurant is named for their silver lobster press and Breton lobsters are a menu staple.
The wine list is very varied from wines by the glass at 10 euros, up to the most prestigious bottles for many thousands of euros.
www.bordeaux.intercontinental.com/en/le-pressoir-dargent-gordon-ramsay
L’Univerre
A bar restaurant in the modern Meriadeck area of Bordeaux is a surprise and a must for wine lovers.
Its 1300 strong wine list is unique in the region with a superb selection from throughout France & wider afield but in particular from Burgundy - yes here in Bordeaux!
Excellent value for money, the restaurant proposes classic & generous dishes to go with their wines. They also have a superb delicatessen & wineshop.
Au Bonheur du Palais
Bordeaux’s best & classiest Chinese restaurant: hidden behind an unassuming façade, it specializes in the cuisine from Sichuan and Canton.
Brothers Tommy & Andy Shan have been here for over three decades and their restaurant is considered to be one of the best Chinese restaurants in France.
Their wine list offers a lovely selection. As well as the dry whites from around Europe, try pairing with sweet Sauternes & Barsacs!
More affordable Bistrot style food – simple and generous...
La Brasserie Bordelaise
Not far from Bordeaux’s iconic Place de la Bourse square, this fun restaurant lets you talk with friends over a glass of wine, whilst tasting Bellota ham & crunchy vegetables. Then move on to meat courses based on local producers of pork & famous breeds of French beef cattle.
The restaurant has a large choice of wines from small producers from around the world. There are also some top Bordeaux for those with deeper pockets.
www.brasserie-bordelaise www.nicolaslascombes
Top Restaurants in Saint-Émilion and on the Bordeaux’ Right Bank
A visit to Bordeaux, wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the UNESCO World Heritage town of Saint-Émilion. There are many fine restaurants in and around the area – we are fans of the following:
La Terrasse Rouge
With lovely views over the vineyards of Saint-Émilion & Pomerol this restaurant sits atop the cellars of Château La Dominique. Enjoy a taste of the South West of France with a good Bordeaux based wine list, although there are offers from outside the region too.
From the same group as the Brasserie Bordelaise, which also includes the only restaurant in a top Sauternes Chateau: www.lachapelledeguiraud.com
In the heart of the lovely village of Saint-Émilion:
Le Logis de la Cadène
Founded in 1848, Logis de la Cadène is one of the oldest restaurants in Saint-Émilion. It was purchased by Château Angélus in 2013 in order to maintain family ownership and links to the great wines of the region.
It obtained a Michelin star in 2017. The wine list features several hundred wines from some of the finest wine-growing regions around the world.
Best address in Pessac and Graves
In the Pessac-Léognan wine district, which is the closest vineyard area to the city of Bordeaux, starting in the southern suburbs of the town, we suggest the following for great wines:
Les Sources de Caudalie
In the heart of the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte offers the Michelin 2 starred La Grand’Vigne for those with larger budgets or the more affordable bistrot style La Table du Lavoir.
Both restaurants offer wine lists going from more reasonably priced by the glass wines up to the most expensive Bordeaux.
www.sources-caudalie.com/en/la-grand-vigne-restaurant
www.sources-caudalie.com/en/la-table-du-lavoir-restaurant
Where to eat in the Médoc… our favorite restaurants
While on your Bordeaux wine tour, you must visit the Médoc area and its famous villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac & Saint-Estèphe: home to some of the world’s most well-known châteaux.
Surprisingly, these wine villages are very quiet with relatively few restaurants compared to what you might expect. We suggest that you reserve well in advance of your Bordeaux wine tour, as the following Médoc restaurants, with good wine lists, do get busy:
Château Cordeillan‑Bages
If you’re feeling extravagant in the Médoc, try Château Cordeillan‑Bages, also run by the Cazes family (see the Chapon Fin above). It is a Relais & Châteaux hotel restaurant with the elegant dining that you’d expect here.
With over 1,500 wines, the wine list includes Bordeaux grands crus and a fine collection of wines from elsewhere.
In 2017, the wine list was in the Top 18 wine lists for starred & “Palace” restaurants in France, according to the French magazine “Terre de Vins”.
www.jmcazes.com/en/chateau-cordeillan-bages/restaurant
Café Lavinal
The new executive chef also oversees the more affordable & locally much-frequented Café Lavinal in Bages Village.
Although for the latter do note that the cellars of the nearby Château Lynch-Bages are still being rebuilt, so cranes abound!
It too has a good wine list, with by the glass small tasting samples also available.
www.jmcazes.com/en/cafe-lavinal
Read on …
With all this talk of top Restaurants in and around Bordeaux, you are perhaps hungry for your next Bordeaux wine tour? We have some more helpful reading for you – see our entry on best Bordeaux wine shops, Bordeaux's favorite foods and Top things to do & see whilst in Bordeaux in order to help organize your next Bordeaux wine tour …
Study Bordeaux on WSG Studio
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