On our last evening in Bordeaux, before we were headed to Thailand the next day we decided to return to one of our favorite little places in old town Bordeaux--Le Loup. As is usual we arrived at 7pm when they open and there was only one table occupied already, but we knew we needed a reservation, and by the time 830pm rolled around, there wasn't an empty table in the place. Indeed, there are only about 12 tables and some are high tops, so it's always best to reserve and we get a regular table. I haven't mentioned the décor here because the last two times I so impressed by the food I failed to mention there is a wall of beautiful forest-like wallpaper, and the wooden tables are very lovingly made from large pieces of light wood.
We got a warm welcome from Ludovic, the manager, who seems to run the place single-handedly with one chef in the kitchen and then around 730pm someone else shows to help take orders and serve! He handed us menus and told us with me.Basic structure of the menu had changed, while some of the dishes were still being retained and it was now what we would call tapas style or shared plates, or plats à partager in French.
We love this idea since we like to order more things and share them anyway; you know how big a fan I am of tasting menus!
We decided to try Le Thym Citron cocktail made from vodka, lemon and thyme(fotos on FB) which we both loved and then went on to a bottle of 2010 Château La Levrette from nearby Blaye, Côtes de Bordeaux which is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. The year was 2010 which is 15 years since harvest and thus the tannins were soft, but the wine had a wonderful earthiness to it.
We started with one of the Signature dishes Will had the last time: Oeuf Mollet or a soft egg in a bed of parmesan cream. The dish is rich and heavenly and actually I could even have a little bit of the cream cut back, but it is one you could have over and over every time you come here. Of course, there is always the fabulous French bread to mop up the extra cream!
Gnocchis châtaigne, ail noir, shiitake, compote d'oignons were delish chestnut gnocchi with black garlic and caramelized onions that was out of this world. I fondly remembered the pasta with Escargots that I had my first time, and I know this chef is really good at pasta.
Magret de Canard, Sauce Foie Gras was a perfectly rare to medium rare cooked duck breast sliced and then drenched in a decadent foie gras sauce tableside. Another dish we had before was still on the menu and we could not resist the Carrottes Fermentée Grillées, Huile de Sesame, Sesame Noir... Heirloom, carrots that are fermented and then grilled in a sesame oil with blackened sesame seeds on top. It's truly a brilliant vegetable dish and since I can't eat raw sesame seeds, they were very gracious and brought them on the side.
Poitrine de Porc Ibaiama, Sauce Saté were simply beautiful chunks of pork cooked perfectly and then served with a very mild satay sauce on the plate.
On our last visit our friend Simon, who recommended Le Loup to me last year, ordered the White Chocolate Mousse with Granny-Smith and Celeriac Compote and Streusel for dessert and I was glad that Will and I decided to share this rich but novel choice. The white chocolate was nowhere near that cloyingly sweet type we get in the USA and all the flavors blended so we'll.
We headed home to get have a good night's sleep before we headed out to Bangkok to arrive here this morning!
