Bordeaux Food

Of course, one of my first interests when I landed here was food and its collaterals. From the first 12 days, here are some notes.

The cannelé is the speciality. It's got a quirky cute shape, but the taste itself is nothing to dance on roofs about. Bordeaux has a crazy number of chocolateries, with tantalising displays, each outdoing the other. Many of them have the mention "Meilleur Ouvrier de France", best French Artisan, which does make you wonder how many "meilleur" there are.

The lunchtime menu in most restaurants is a standard: a combination of main + dessert or starter + main for 7 to 12 euros. Coffee is often included. And the main is an actual meal, not a sandwich. Tap water is common and brought to you on a simple request. And for once you DON'T have to keep specifying "without ice".

Service is interesting here. I've experienced nothing but perfect courtesy so far. That's definitely what we were used to in Toronto too. But one thing strikes both of us. There's a stronger feeling of equality. In a way, you often feel more like this person is inviting you to a paid meal, rather than this person is paid to be perfectly polite and welcoming to you. It's subtle, but there. And it works. You don't get offered parmesan or pepper when you order food, and if you ask for it, you don't have to tell the server when to stop with the pepper twisting. :) But, while a serviette is standard with a full meal, you have to ask for a napkin if you're just ordering coffee and a pastry. I miss the napkins.

Obviously, the menu often has limited options for me. Chicken and fish don't necessarily show up on all menus! Nor does lamb or duck. The vegetarian option is not bad, but that can get boring quickly. So we'll find the right places, and sometimes I'll just settle for the veg option. Mostly, I'm just going to keep cooking as much as I did before.

The pastries: yup. They're here alright. Apple pie, mirabelles pie, crème brûlée, scones (I need to go back and take a picture of this shop window which had scones on display, and had an explanation next to it of what they are. Such was the lack of English culture among his clients, apparently). And "glaces artisanales". At almost every corner, there's a store offering ice cream of the handmade or traditional made variety. Which really doesn't help when you suddenly have a yen for a good old vanilla Magnum with chocolate crust that comes in the plastic seal. Still haven't found where to get that. I walked into a corner store and all they had was the 6-in-a-pack variety, nothing I could just grab and eat on my way. Meanwhile, the pain au chocolat and croissant from the nearby bakery don't hurt too much, except most probably on the scales in about two weeks.

The bread is just awesome. It's the only one thing which I can safely say beats anything I've had in T.O. Everything else is great, but nothing we couldn't really find in Toronto if we looked. I get it about the bread now.

The produce range is varied, but more limited than Toronto. I miss a number of exotic things, and we need to get to one of the markets, where there will likely be more unorthodox vegetables and fruits. Maybe. I love the names for really regular stuff. Salt is "sel marin de Guérande". It's just sea salt. I guess the names in French sound striking because I haven't been in touch with them for a while. And here's the thing. Food shopping in France is really close to food shopping in Mauritius. We have a number of French grocery stores there, and import so many things from France. Or have French franchises operating. So all the brands are those I'd find in Jumbo in Mauritius, the container formats, the sizes. It's all interestingly Mauritian. (Have not found Sarjua pickles, but will not be surprised to).

I have many more discoveries to make. Yes, the cheese is amazing. They even have a fair variety of pasteurised ones. I miss sourdough bread, dried cranberries and TRIEC-made food. And I can't wait to be in my own kitchen in the apartment we found. More culinary adventures lie ahead.