Bordeaux, Le Chapon Fin: Traditional Gastronomic Restaurant since 1825

On a night in May 2017 we had dinner at one of the most traditional restaurants in Bordeaux, Le Chapon Fin (5 rue Montesquieu, tel 05.56.79.10.10; www.chapon-fin.com). The restaurant opened its doors in 1825 and was part of the first group of three-star restaurants of the original 1933 edition of the Red Michelin Guide.

In 1900, a new owner and chef, Joseph Sicard, who had worked in Paris at the then famous Café Anglais, commissioned the architect Cyprien-Alfred Duprat to renovate the restaurant. The current appearance of the restaurant is the result of this renovation which included in the dining room a fake, but imposing, rock and other rock decorations. The addition of a glass dome was also Duprat´s work, though it was done at a later date. The dining room is claimed to be in Art Nouveau style, but it seemed heavy and kitsch to us. That said, the restaurant remains impressive for those who arrive at its dining room for the first time.

Le Chapon Fin's fine gastronomic reputation has been declining over time. Its golden age was between 1933 and 1939, when under the command of the chef Joseph Sicard, the restaurant achieved and mantained its three Michelin stars. It was then downgraded to two stars, which were kept until 1957. After the death of chef Sicard, the restaurant lost its stars, but, in 1987, under chef Francis Garcia, it managed to regain a star. Chef Nicolas Frion succeeded him in 2003 and kept the star until he left the post in April 2014 (Nicolas Frion is now the Executive-Chef of the Gabriel and Bistrot du Gabriel). The current chef, Nicolas Nguyen Van Hai, arrived at Le Chapon Fin in 2012 as Chef Frion's second and took over the post when his boss left. He is working hard to recover the star, but in 2017, he has not yet accomplished his goal.

Nevertheless, the fame of the wine cellar of Le Chapon Fin continues undiminished, helped by the fact that the restaurant is, since 2011, owned by Sylvie Cazes, the first woman president of the prestigious Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux and owner of Château Chauvin, a Saint-Emilion grand cru classé. She is also, sister of Jean-Michel Cazes, another important figure of the region's wine culture.

The Chapon Fin sommelier, Leagh Barkley, can offer more than 800 different wines to its customers, including premium wines by the glass that are offered using the Coravin process that extracts the wine without removing the cork from the bottle.

Coravin

We had made the reservation in advance since we did not want to miss the opportunity to try a meal in this house of so much tradition, even if its fame has diminished somewhat in its current version. We arrived promptly at 8:00 pm and were taken to our table. The dining room was relatively empty, with few tables occupied.

Mis-en-bouche

The restaurant is chic, albeit a little tacky, and its service is impeccable. The restaurant offers, besides the à la carte service, three types of fixed price menus: the Menu Découverte (€ 69), the Menu Confiance(€ 89 €) and the Menu Dégustation (€ 99). All menus are also offered with wine harmonization (€ 32-48). We chose the Menu Découverte, but refused the wine pairing as we preferred to use the opportunity to drink a great wine by the glass, an opportunity that Le Chapon Fin allows. This was actually an extravagance, because each glass of wine cost us € 40, that is, more than what the wine pairing would have cost us. We do not regret it. Our wines were delicious and the experience seems to indicate that the Coravin system of serving wine by the glass works well. We hope that more restaurants will offer it in the future.

Mis-en-bouche

After the traditional mis-en-bouche, a courtesy of the chef, we started our dinner with an entrée, asperge verte croquant, déclinaison de beterraves (green asparagus, beets in various forms). The asparagus was delicious and the beets came in surprising ways. I'm not a fan of beets, but I found the dish light and tasty.

Green asparagus and beets

As for the main course the menu offered a choice between a bar sauvage de l'Atlantique tout en vert, croute pois cassés, coulis persil, wasabi et jaunes navets or a fillet of boeuf, mousse de pommes de terre "robe des champs". We split our choices. My wife preferred the filet with the potato mousse while I chose the filet of fish, crust of split peas, parsley and wasabi sauce accompanied by tender yellow turnips. The bar(Dicentrarchus labrax) is one of my favorite fish from the North Atlantic and the sauce was very interesting. Parsley has a very subtle taste, but the wasabi gives a bit more structure to the sauce. My wife greatly appreciated her dish, highlighting not only the perfect cooking point of the meat, but also the taste of the potato mousse in "robe des champs", that is, cooked with their skin.

Bar with crust of split peas

Fillet of beef and potato mousse

Afterwards, they brought us a charriot of cheeses selected by a maturation expert, Jean d'Alos, and each of us chose three cheeses to taste before dessert. The shop where these delicious delicacies come from is also in the Triangle d'Or (the chic Bordeaux region where Chapon Fin is located). In fact, it is just across the street from Chapon Fin, at number 4, rue Montesquieu, and its telephone number is 05.56.44.29.66.

As dessert I had a strawberry and rhubarb soup with ice cream, while my wife preferred the oranges dans tout ses états, an orange-based dessert. The strawberry and rhubarb soup was delicious, but the orange-based dessert did not impress us much.

Strawberry and rhubarb soup

Orange dessert

Overall, and even considering the luxurious facilities of the restaurant, its excellent service and its wine list, factors that help make the meal memorable, we tend to agree with Michelin that the cuisine of Chapon Fin, judging for its Menu Découverte, is still a little short of the excellence level of other starred restaurants in France. Nevertheless, it deserves to be visited.