Locals lunch: Le Petit Commerce, traditional, friendly, great menu and full of French people enjoying a great value meal that tastes like heaven. 22 Rue Parlement Saint-Pierre
Locals love: Braderie Bordelaise “a taste of Bordeaux” is how the locals described it. There’s always a queue to get in and that says it all. It’s worth the wait though – if you’re a steak frites fan, you will never taste better than here.
Locals new love: Seven at Cité du Vin. The 7th floor restaurant at the wine museum is divine in every way. Fabulous menu, brilliant wine list and absolutely stunning view over the city. It’s open for lunch, dinner, afternoon tea and any time for a glass of wine!
Bake my day: Canéles are delicious little rum and vanilla cakes, a speciality of Bordeaux where they’ve been making them for at least 300 years.
There are two famous places to go for one of these sweet treats: Ballardin and La Toque-Cuivrée (theirs are slightly crispier).
Personally I prefer the new cake in town – Dunes Blanches. A speciality of Patisserie Pascal in Cap Ferret, the seaside town that’s just an hour from Bordeaux. The sweet Dunes Blanches were so good that people started to go to Cap Ferret just to buy them, so Pascal opened a shop in the city. They do a different flavour each week but ‘natural’, the originals, are best - soft, crunchy and wonderfully sweet, filled with cream and dusted with icing sugar – I would go back to Bordeaux for those alone.
If you want to make like a local and impress them, ask for a chocolatine not pain au chocolat for your breakfast treat!