Bordeaux and the Wine Country Restaurants

Although countryside Médoc eateries are few, the city of Bordeaux is jammed with restaurants, especially around Place du Parlement, and many cafés—notably in the Quartier St-Pierre—and bars (Place de la Victoire and Cours de la Somme). Not surprisingly, the wines of the region are often used as a base for regional food specialties. Lamprey, a good local fish, is often served in a red wine sauce as lamproie à la Bordelaise, and sturgeon cooked in a white wine sauce, as esturgeon à la Libournaise (Libourne-style). As for meat, the lamb from Pauillac and the beef from Bazas and Aquitaine are rightly famous, as is the wood pigeon (palombe). And Bordeaux has spectacular desserts, such as fanchonnette bordelaise (puff pastry in custard covered with meringue), the cannelé de Bordeaux (small cakes, made in fluted molds, that can only be found here), and the famed macaroons from Saint-Émilion, invented there by the town's Ursuline nuns in the 17th century.