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Bordeaux has some of the greatest wines in the world, but is not known for some of the greatest restaurants. The Wine Trade (particularly the English Wine Trade) are not noted for its ability to appreciate fine food - plain cooking is the perfect partner to those outstanding clarets - and so it is always a great pleasure to find a restaurant in Bordeaux which can show off culinary skills as well as a good wine list.
Such a restaurant is Le Chapon Fin in the heart of Bordeaux near the Place des Grands Hommes. It's a famous, long established, originally decorated restaurant which has always had a good reputation and being under common ownership with the Cordeillan-Bages Relais and Château hotel in Pauillac, the kitchen is supervised by the Cordeillan chef, Thierry Marx, considered to be one of the finest chefs in France.
But Le Chapon Fin has its own agenda. Chef Nicolas Frion has created some of his own dishes and in addition you can find out how to cook them by registering at his cookery school. In accordance with our policy, we tested an Autumn and a Spring menu, but they didn't seem to change much. The only really seasonal dish we found was hare (Lièvre à la Royale "Curnonsky" - he was a patron of the restaurant) in the Autumn menu, and we didn't have that.
What we did have was Ravioles croustillantes de canard, bouillon chaud de volaille parfumé à la truffe, subtly constructed and delicately perfumed and foie gras chaud poelée, dates et citrons confits, again subtle and perfectly executed. The same dishes were on both seasonal menus and curiously one was 1 euro less and the other 1 euro more on the latter of the two menus! Courses are limited to a choice of five or six dishes and other entrées could be cold foie gras, hot oysters, or langoustines with caviar. Fish dishes include sea bass, (Bar cuit sur sa peau, legumes confits à l'huile de coriander) and tuna (thon saisi au poivre de Séchouan et cumin, gateau de legumes oubliés, crystalline de patate douce).
There is a fair amount of offal in the meat section, kidneys (rognons de veau à l'étouffée et blé concassé à l'orientale), sweetbreads (ris de veau piqué de clous de girofle, tombée de poireaux aux truffes et noix de pecan), pig's trotter (pieds de cochon et volaille façon crepinette, crème onctueuse de pommes de terre vitelotte). But there is also lamb, duck and pigeon and of course, that hare. Curiously, there is no beef. Maybe they are scared of mad cow disease since they also state rather nervously at the foot of the menu "tout nos viands bovines sont d'origine française". The sweetbreads were particularly delicious, delicately perfumed with cloves and accompanied with a little tartlet of leeks with truffles and pecan nuts. The pigeon, ("ferme de la font de loges", les cuisses braises/vapeur, legumes en tempura, un jus aux épices) had the breast cooked au point, but the legs were a little overdone.
You have probably noticed that some of the dishes are orientally flavoured. This has been done with great discretion, so unlike some of the crude attempts at "fusion cuisine" we have seen around the Pacific rim.
Such a restaurant is Le Chapon Fin in the heart of Bordeaux near the Place des Grands Hommes. It's a famous, long established, originally decorated restaurant which has always had a good reputation and being under common ownership with the Cordeillan-Bages Relais and Château hotel in Pauillac, the kitchen is supervised by the Cordeillan chef, Thierry Marx, considered to be one of the finest chefs in France.
But Le Chapon Fin has its own agenda. Chef Nicolas Frion has created some of his own dishes and in addition you can find out how to cook them by registering at his cookery school. In accordance with our policy, we tested an Autumn and a Spring menu, but they didn't seem to change much. The only really seasonal dish we found was hare (Lièvre à la Royale "Curnonsky" - he was a patron of the restaurant) in the Autumn menu, and we didn't have that.
What we did have was Ravioles croustillantes de canard, bouillon chaud de volaille parfumé à la truffe, subtly constructed and delicately perfumed and foie gras chaud poelée, dates et citrons confits, again subtle and perfectly executed. The same dishes were on both seasonal menus and curiously one was 1 euro less and the other 1 euro more on the latter of the two menus! Courses are limited to a choice of five or six dishes and other entrées could be cold foie gras, hot oysters, or langoustines with caviar. Fish dishes include sea bass, (Bar cuit sur sa peau, legumes confits à l'huile de coriander) and tuna (thon saisi au poivre de Séchouan et cumin, gateau de legumes oubliés, crystalline de patate douce).
There is a fair amount of offal in the meat section, kidneys (rognons de veau à l'étouffée et blé concassé à l'orientale), sweetbreads (ris de veau piqué de clous de girofle, tombée de poireaux aux truffes et noix de pecan), pig's trotter (pieds de cochon et volaille façon crepinette, crème onctueuse de pommes de terre vitelotte). But there is also lamb, duck and pigeon and of course, that hare. Curiously, there is no beef. Maybe they are scared of mad cow disease since they also state rather nervously at the foot of the menu "tout nos viands bovines sont d'origine française". The sweetbreads were particularly delicious, delicately perfumed with cloves and accompanied with a little tartlet of leeks with truffles and pecan nuts. The pigeon, ("ferme de la font de loges", les cuisses braises/vapeur, legumes en tempura, un jus aux épices) had the breast cooked au point, but the legs were a little overdone.
You have probably noticed that some of the dishes are orientally flavoured. This has been done with great discretion, so unlike some of the crude attempts at "fusion cuisine" we have seen around the Pacific rim.
There is, of course, a good selection of cheeses and desserts, which have to be ordered at the same time as the other courses, are all made au moment and are very well elaborated. Try the gateau au chocolate au lait semi-glacé, coulis de fruits exotiques et batons croustillants "Façon Arlette", the pressé de pain d'épices "Façon Tatin" tuile aux sesames et glace cannelle, or soufflé chocolat blanc, pulpe de poire acidulée au citron et à la vanille. There are other goodies, too. Interesting dessert wines to be had by the glass, by no means confined to the Bordeaux area (Banyuls and Passito di Pantelleria, for example), but dry wines by the glass are pretty ordinaire, although if you take their 40 euro ‘wine by the glass programme’ “au verre au fil du menu” throughout your meal, you could also get among the selection, a Gevrey-Chambertin from Geantet-Ponsot and the remarkable Coteaux du Lauguedoc "La Sylvie" from Mas Lumen. This would probably suit either their "Parfums et Découverte" menu, or their Menu Dégustation.
The wine list itself is a tour de force and as outward looking as a French wine list could possibly be, with one page out of 21 devoted to wins of "Autres Pays" but they are promising to improve on this. There's some good stuff there - wines from Sandrone and Scavino in Piemonte, Vega Sicilia in Spain, Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir and a good selection of Ports. All at a price, of course. The emphasis is on wines from the Bordeaux region (12 out of 21 pages, including a whole page of vertical vintages of Ch. Mouton Rothschild) and being in common ownership, there's a pretty good selection of Lynch Bages, Cordeillan-Bages and Haut-Bages-Libéral and Averous. However, the selection from the rest of France has some pretty good producers on it, too - not only from the most famous names, but some good wines from lesser-known up-and-coming growers. The Languedoc/Rousillon/South West France pages are particularly good value.
All in all, this is an excellent and civilised place to eat in Bordeaux with well spaced tables, good, professional service, and no British wine merchants as customers! (at least when we went there.)
Restaurant Ratings...
Food 46
Wine list 16
Service 10
Ambience 5
Value for money 11
Total 88
Le Chapon Fin 5, Rue Montesquieu, 33000 Bordeaux.
Tel: 05 56 79 10 10 Fax 05 56 79 09 10.
www.chapon-fin.com
Open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday.
Closed first three weeks in August.
Credit cards: Visa Mastercard, Diners, Amex
Fixed price menus: 27€ lunch only, 48€ and 76€.
A la carte around 80€ for three courses without wine. Service at customer's discretion.
The wine list itself is a tour de force and as outward looking as a French wine list could possibly be, with one page out of 21 devoted to wins of "Autres Pays" but they are promising to improve on this. There's some good stuff there - wines from Sandrone and Scavino in Piemonte, Vega Sicilia in Spain, Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir and a good selection of Ports. All at a price, of course. The emphasis is on wines from the Bordeaux region (12 out of 21 pages, including a whole page of vertical vintages of Ch. Mouton Rothschild) and being in common ownership, there's a pretty good selection of Lynch Bages, Cordeillan-Bages and Haut-Bages-Libéral and Averous. However, the selection from the rest of France has some pretty good producers on it, too - not only from the most famous names, but some good wines from lesser-known up-and-coming growers. The Languedoc/Rousillon/South West France pages are particularly good value.
All in all, this is an excellent and civilised place to eat in Bordeaux with well spaced tables, good, professional service, and no British wine merchants as customers! (at least when we went there.)
Restaurant Ratings...
Food 46
Wine list 16
Service 10
Ambience 5
Value for money 11
Total 88
Le Chapon Fin 5, Rue Montesquieu, 33000 Bordeaux.
Tel: 05 56 79 10 10 Fax 05 56 79 09 10.
www.chapon-fin.com
Open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday.
Closed first three weeks in August.
Credit cards: Visa Mastercard, Diners, Amex
Fixed price menus: 27€ lunch only, 48€ and 76€.
A la carte around 80€ for three courses without wine. Service at customer's discretion.
