Bordeaux Oct 16, 2012

Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux

First night in Bordeaux and after getting lost, experiencing jet-lag, hunger, and feeling grumpy, the first thing my coworker and I spot is a Pizza hut that was still opened and CRAZY busy and we choose a small veggie pan pizza and some bread sticks, which was actually the crust of a pan pizza with mozzarella cheese and folded over itself.

If I had slowed down to taste it, I'm sure it would have been delicious.

But after a few hours of rest, we were pumped and ready to head to the IECB at the university for the first day of the conference.

St. Andre Cathedral

Let's skip ahead about 8 hours and here we are in front of the beautiful St. Andre Cathedral and Palais Rohan, Bordeaux's city hall. We chose a nearby restaurant to celebrate the end of the first (intense) day and ordered two glasses of Bordeaux's local rose wine with some tuna and steak.

Restaurant in front of Palais Rohan

I'm not a wine connoisseur or even a wine amateur so I can't explain in proper terms the fruitiness or type of barrel-aging taste of the wine (not even sure if these are the correct wine terms) but I can say this:

THIS WINE IS YUMMY!!!

Not so dry like most red wines, it tasted more like a sweet white wine but richer so I downed that baby like there was no tomorrow.

Above left: Seared tuna. Above right: me with wine. Below: Seared steak.

The next evening, after another intensive day of science, our boss invited us for dinner with a few other professors in the central part of Bordeaux near the Place de la Bourse palace (picture above). This area was hoppin! We settled into a nice patio restaurant and wined and dined.

Above: goat cheese and honey walnut salad. Left: beef tartare. Right: Duck confit.

I ordered the goat cheese and honey walnut salad and a few others ordered the beef tartare as a starter. The dressing on the salad was a deliciously warm vinaigrette that they made kind of creamy but without the addition of any cream and it worked so well with the cheese/honey/walnut combo. Normally I don't like croutons in salad but I really enjoyed the little toasts they used as a cheese carrier: just top it with some salad greens and walnuts and munch away!

The beef tartare: according to some, it did not have much taste. It was the smooth texture of the runny, rich egg yolk with the soft feel of the raw ground beef that was unique and needed to be seasoned with strong flavours like mustard and ketchup. The duck confit had a nice crispy skin but unfortunately I cannot tell you how it tasted! It sure smelled good though.

We strolled around the palace after dinner and made our way back to the hotel with tummies and hearts filled with happiness.

Of course, we were a bit late for the meeting the next morning but it was well worth it :)