Le Bouchon Bordelais was highly recommended to me by locals and I have mixed feelings about it.
The restaurant takes fresh, seasonal ingredients (good), uses them in traditional dishes (good) and then “modernizes” them (could go either way).
Obviously, cooking with seasonal ingredients is good. Also, traditional dishes are traditional for a reason, they are time tested and good. Modernizing something can be good if well executed, or can invoke the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
My meal here was a bit of both. It started with amuse bouche which was good:
..and then a starter of escargot in a tomato based sauce. I liked this preparation and the sauce was very good.
For my main, I had a ceviche. It was just ok which is largely my fault. I feel that it was not a good choice as a main dish as it is too much cold dish as a main, and would of preferred a smaller portion as a starter.
After a while, I got tired of eating it. Service was also a bit slow.
Overall, I was asking people for places to eat which were traditional for the region. The name sounded like it too. I think that what happens in an increasingly global world is that places with strong food cultures like France start experimenting and updating their traditional dishes. In North America, diversity creates some amazing places to eat and variety, and chefs there have been exposed to diverse food cultures for a long time so they know how to incorporate different cuisines well. However, in a place like France, I think it will take a while before they are able to do this well. Perhaps, for locals who are used to having traditional dishes all the time, places like this are a welcome change. However, for me, it was just ok. 7/10Â