A day in Bordeaux

For me, no trip to Bordeaux would be complete without a trip to L'Entrecôte.

This is a restaurant that serves sirloin steak as the only main course on the menu. This must be my 7th visit, and it has never disappointed.

They say that the way the meat is prepared and the sauce that it is served in is a well guarded secret. Wikipedia would have you believe that it is a combination of 9 different ingredients (including blanched chicken livers), but there is much controversy surrounding this…. Whatever, the taste is sublime.

There's nothing that compares to this dish, as the queue outside the restaurant will testify. Today, having arrived at midday (opening time), we were greeted by a queue, which we dutifully joined and which only continued to grow behind us as the lunch service progressed. Despite the rather unseasonal rain, 'punters' were only too willing to wait. 

The only course on the menu that varies, is the pudding, and today we decided that the only way to conclude our meal was to indulge in profiteroles. These were ice-cream filled and had copious amounts of thick dark hot chocolate sauce topped with flaked almonds. Wow! This was then rounded of with a shot of expresso… Perfect.

A short walk from the L'Entrecote restaurant is the Opera House, home of the Opera National de Bordeaux. As the rain persisted, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a look around the inside of this truly impressive building. We've been to Bordeaux on numerous occasions, but have never ventured inside this beautiful 'theatre'. There was an exhibition being shown, based around the Alice in Wonderland story. The building itself is a grand,18th Century architectural monument with a rich 'royal' interior of blue, gold and white. 

I don't want you to think this is all high culture and food here in Bordeaux, just a few paces from the Opera House is the longest shopping street in Europe, stretching an impressive 1.2km... We just had to fit in a just a little 'retail therapy'.

Thanks for reading,

Martha x

*All images unless stated are photographed and copyrighted by Martha Sanders