The best restaurants in Bordeaux

Condé Nast Traveller – July, 2024

Bordeaux has long been hailed as the home of exceptional French wines. In the city centre, restaurants proudly showcase world-renowned bottles from local winemakers on extensive wine lists. The best of them continue an appreciation of terroir in the kitchen, seeking produce that can tell the story of the southwest, from the mountains to the sea. Whether these ingredients are transformed into traditional Basque dishes or contemporary small plates, each is treated with reverence and respect for the beautiful landscape it came from. Below, find the very best restaurants in Bordeaux to tick off your list.

L’Avant Comptoir du Palais

Located just below the magnificent 15th-century city gates of Porte Cailhau, guests at L’Avant Comptoir du Palais may feel like they have been given the key to the city. The modern wine bar offers a selection of up to 70 tapas ( on a giant blackboard wall inside) that elevate everyday classics. Perch at an upturned wine barrel and enjoy platters of tuna tartare with fresh raspberries, an oxtail croquette drizzled with a red wine jus or crunchy grilled shallots with creamy mayonnaise. The restaurant has three sister outposts in Paris, opened by Yves Camdeborde and his nephew, Julien, who worked by his side in the kitchen for eight years before setting up the Bordeaux spot. Julien can be found pouring glasses of wine – often natural – from the many glass refrigerators surrounding the restaurant. Table service is relaxed here, with the team often sitting down to share a glass of wine with friends and fellow oenophiles on their rounds.

Address: 2 Pl. du Palais, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: amdeborde.com

Vivants

One of the most exciting features of the Bordeaux dining scene is Vivants. It is the second restaurant from Tanguy Laviale – the first being the fine dining restaurant Ressources, which won a Michelin star only four months after opening in 2022. Vivants is a more laid-back affair, where guests enter through warm wooden archways and are welcomed like old friends. The drinking glasses are endearingly mismatched and stay (like the cutlery) on the table throughout the courses. Opt for a set menu – the dish descriptions leave much to the imagination, but the wait staff are on hand to colour in the details. There are rare olives from a nearly UNESCO farm, and the gratinated razor shells are filled with protected cuttlefish caught by special fishermen. Here, sommeliers champion up-and-coming wine labels, mainly from France’s wine-growing regions, with established favourites to fall back on. This natural wine list is 1000 bottles strong, with a bonbonne of Cognac waiting for an equally decadent dessert.

Address: 126 Rue Fondaudège, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: ressourcesrestaurant.bonkdo.com

Symbiose

As its name suggests, Symbiose (or symbiosis) is a restaurant and bar that acts as one. Its carefully crafted menu changes weekly, but you can expect to find medallions of monkfish with a watercress coulis, eggplant lacquered in miso and date vinegar, a cheese course with mimolette and pavé of the Pyrenees and a dark chocolate and whiskey torte with Chantilly cream. At the open bar, which is to the front of the restaurant and surrounded by fragrant herbs, they offer the Symbiose spritz (made with Aperol, Yuzuchu, citrus, Saint-Germain, cucumber and Champagne) and other heady concoctions. Committed to sustainable gastronomy, Symbiose tends to its own garden down the Gironde estuary. Overlooking the river on the Quais des Chartrons, the restaurant has an open-air terrace that develops into a moodily lit and narrow dining room. Symbiose is a natural – from its ingredients to its ingeniousness.

Address: 4 Quai des Chartrons, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: symbiose-bordeaux.com

Soif

You could walk right past this little restaurant if you didn’t know any better – and that is part of the charm. This local favourite is right in the centre of the historic Saint-Pierre district. For four evenings and two days a week, the intimate bistro comes alive with patrons looking for a first-person dining experience. Chef Cecile Lambré creates a menu inspired by a trip to the morning market. Small plates could include pork belly pâté, veal head ravigote, potato waffle and, for dessert, brioche coated in old Banyuls vinegar caramel. Nicolas Lefevre takes care of the natural wines, each from artisan growers and stored in a glass cellar behind a red Formica counter. Available by glass or bottle, the hundreds of options stay true to Soif’s "thirsty" translation. Attentive to the local terroir across its food and wine offerings, Soif will satiate even the most discerning diners.

Address: 35 Rue du Cancera, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: soif-bordeaux.com

Le Prince Noir

While you may have to travel a little further to become acquainted with Le Prince Noir, it is worth the effort. Crossing the overgrown drawbridge on the grounds of the former Château de Lormont, a sense of exploration takes hold at the restaurant crowned with Michelin stars – one green and one red. Set in a modernist glass box within storied surrounds that overlooks the Pont d’Aquitaine, Le Prince Noir showcases the best produce and cuisine of the region with a playful twist. After local gastronomy personality and founder of Le Prince Noir, Jean-Marie Amat, passed away in 2018, chef Vivien Durant has been on a noble quest to reinvent seasonal dishes, which may include famed foie gras, Cap Ferret oysters (which have grown in the Bassin of Arcachon since Roman times), and kokotxa, a traditional Basque fish stew. This is best discovered through the set menus, with food and wine pairings to take you on a culinary journey.

Address: 1 Rue du Prince Noir, 33310 Lormont, France
Website: leprincenoir-restaurant.fr

Morimoto Bordeaux

Behind the facade of a 19th-century Château (which once housed the Maison Calvet wine cellars), you will find the modern restaurant of Morimoto Bordeaux, complete with interior design by Philippe Starck. But this isn’t the only surprise you will find here. With a shining sushi counter, plush indoor booths and a tree-lined patio, Morimoto is the showpiece restaurant for the recently opened Mondrian Bordeaux Les Carmes hotel. Morimoto is the first European restaurant to be opened by the Japanese master and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. His menu blends Asian culinary art with French savoir-faire and his unique approach to plating. The discovery menu starts with a sashimi salade, which is as pretty as it sounds, as well as fried wagyu gyozas. This is followed by immaculate nigiri and sushi from the open kitchen. All courses can be paired with an extensive sake menu or almost any of the 10,000 bottles of wines in the hotel’s cellar.

Address: 81 Cr du Médoc, 33300, Bordeaux, France
Website: ironchefmorimoto.com

La Tupina

A Basque institution, La Tupina stirs heart-warming dishes – often over its cauldron sitting in the fireplace. Not much has changed at the rustic restaurant since Jean-Pierre Xiradakis opened its doors in 1968. The fresh produce displayed proudly on the central counter in front of the kitchen changes daily. Chef Franck Audu continues the founder’s legacy, serving local delicacies like sanguette blood pudding, macaronade (pasta with beef and tomato sauce), and, of course, an excellent wine list. Protecting the gastronomic traditions of the Southwest of France, La Tupina celebrates seasonal events, including the Asparagus Festival and Harvest Festival. The latter sets the table for 200 guests down the length of rue de la Porte de la Monnaie. This is community dining at its finest.

Address: 6 Rue Prte de la Monnaie, 33800, Bordeaux, France
Website: latupina.com

Baston

Despite its bright yellow façade, few visitors to Bordeaux know of this restaurant and micro-boulangerie. Perhaps this is because of its small stature (tucked back on a street in the shadow of Pey-Berland Tower), or maybe it’s because others would like it to remain a little secret. Baston means trouble in French, and while founders Pauline Celle and Julien Borie’s approach to traditional cuisine can seem disruptive, the results are exceptional. After breaking bread (they share a love of sourdough), Celle’s specialities include loaded focaccias to start and brioches or French toast to finish. Borie focuses on the more substantial meals, including mussels marinière and a confit leg of lamb with Grand Roux corn.

Address: 50 Rue du Hâ, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: instagram.com/bastonbordeaux

Cent 33

Fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere is found at Cent 33. Down the way from the Jardin Public, in the trendy Chartons district, chef Fabien Beaufour works with trusted suppliers to select some of the best produce in town for an intuitive menu and precise plating. An ever-evolving Michelin-star meal could include green peas and soft crab covered in a cloud of coconut milk and lemon balm or summer deer loin roasted over a wood fire with beetroots and blackberries. Informed by his time working for top restaurants overseas, Beaufour takes an international approach to cooking, with a Japanese robata at the centre of many meals. This work is best experienced from the high chef’s table, which seats up to six people for a set menu experience. There are more than 300 wine options to choose from. For dessert? Strawberries in a Champagne emulsion, best enjoyed on the restaurant’s sunny terrace, a dish that epitomises Cent 33’s respect for its produce and careful balance of flavours and textures.

Address: 133 Rue du Jardin Public, 33000, Bordeaux, France
Website: cent33.com

Le Michel’s

On a charming corner of Rue du Pas-Saint Georges, Le Michel’s is a popular spot to convene for duck confit and vin. Almost all diners choose to sit outside, underneath the large red and white striped canopy, in full view of the street. The menu is a classic, with a hint of je ne sais quoi – the French onion soup, for example, comes covered with perfectly flaky pastry, as opposed to a crouton. Specials, such as the duck confit burger, are tempting, but you can’t go wrong with ordering the steak frites. The dessert tray is posited under a glass dome, featuring specials including homemade Twix bars and mini crème brulée. This place is unpretentious and has a party atmosphere over the weekends.

Address: 15 Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges, 33000, Bordeaux, France