Bidart’s latest hot spot is a Labourdin hotel-restaurant from the 1930s that’s set our hearts ablaze. After a hip makeover (vintage furniture, an exhibitionist kitchen, a surfboard rack), it’s now run by a trendy duo, Raphaëlle Abbadie (a former lawyer) and Jules Dupouy-Duchesne (the previous owner of Barbakoa in Biarritz). The other day at lunch, the chef tended to the embers while grilling a flamboyant line-caught bass steak from the fish market in Saint Jean-de-Luz, perfectly prepared on the impressive hand crank barbecue, plated over a bed of broad beans and peas and moistened by an incredible cured ham infused jus, plus chervil, Zabal’Oil olives and almonds. And to go with all that? Some very simple salt-roasted new potatoes paired with an onion and apple cider vinegar compote, before an impressive chocolate mousse made with Mr Txocola dark chocolate (74%), made from beans sourced from Liberia, all sprinkled with crushed meringue, which brought us to near spontaneous combustion. Also available à la carte: grilled sardines if you’re in the mood for a small snack; a Mangalitza ham plate; asparagus with cream and mojama; fish and meat priced by the kilo, depending on what’s fresh and available at the market… // Gérard Roubaix
FEELING THIRSTY? Naturalist juices for the most part: a Languedoc white from Le Mas d’Espanet (€7 a bottle), an Alsatian white from the Domaine Albert Mann (€30 a bottle), a Chinon red
from Bernard Beaudry (€29)…
PRICE: Tapas €5-12, à la carte €27-50.
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