A highly animated and extremely appetizing Instagram page brought three friends and me to Yeled for a girl’s night / birthday celebration this past January. It had been on our list for a while. We’d sent each other several DM’s over the weeks leading up to our reservation on the topic of all this new-ish…

Music-lovers looking for a bite to eat with a glass of funky natural wine in Bordeaux ought to look no further than Café Mancuso, France’s very first “restaurant audiophile.” What does that mean? That the place is music-first in its offer. An expensive-looking hi-fi system and audio equipment specially chosen for the accoustics of the…

In a rapidly developing and expanding city like Bordeaux a lot can happen over a 6-year span. Since I first moved here in February 2017, I’ve seen Bacalan transform from industrial wasteland into buzzing nightlife hub, the boats and warehouses lining the Quais Lawton and des Caps now occupied by half-decent clubs, bars and burger…

For good beef in Bordeaux center there is a handful of restaurants I usually recommend – El National for the Argentine parilla vibe, Le Carreau for a more Bordelais touch, Ô QG for prime cuts cooked in a fireplace and L’Entrecôte… just kidding, L’Entrecôte sucks. But the most respected, most loudly lauded temple of beef…

Whisperings about a collaboration between two of Bordeaux’s culinary giants began back in June and reached my ears through water cooler gossip with colleagues in wine by mid-summer. A promising new adventure for 1-Michelin-starred Tanguy Laviale of the now-closed fine dining institution Garopapilles, who would be teaming up with Chef and Owner of Racines, Daniel…

Another neighborhood favorite of mine is Cafe Eriu, a delightful little restaurant on Rue Fondaudege serving up seasonal cuisine with an Irish twist. A tastefully designed coffee bar clad in dark green tile, a homey dining area, an open kitchen in the back. Brunch is great here, with both sweet and salty options. Lunch is…

A pint-sized Venezuelan joint named El Budare has opened its doors this week in my neighborhood and I couldn’t be happier about it. We met the very nice couple – Paula from Venezuela and French-Réunionese Florian – when we stuck our noses in to check the menu last weekend, as they were busy setting up.…

It’s only mid-March and already “Sleeping Beauty” Bordeaux seems to be waking from her winter slumber, shaking off confinement, curfew and coronavirus like a bad dream. Despite 3 million currently infected in France and an excruciatingly slow start to the vaccine rollout, a 20°C sunny day will send hordes of Bordelais out to the Garonne…

Well, it finally happened. After 4 years spent living just 100 meters from TentaziOni, I finally decided I couldn’t survive another day without eating there. I had heard just about every one of my Italian friends praise the restaurant’s menu with a kind of passion they normally reserve for denouncing “pâte à la carbonara à…

I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Unmotivated, lethargic, unhappy. Stuck in an enforced hibernation in my lonesome Bordeaux bubble with a soul-crushing curfew, starving for places and faces, both familiar and new. I sometimes re-read my old articles about the street food of Mongkok, the asados in Argentina, the 18-course tasting menu…