The corner of France that inspired Jo?l Robuchon

Jo?l Robuchon, who died at the age of 73 from cancer this week, earned 32 Michelin stars at restaurants around the world during his glittering culinary career – the most of any chef. 

Named “chef of the century” by the Gault-Millau guide in 1989, he opened establishments in a clutch of cities, including London, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New York and Singapore, as well as several in his native France. They included La Grande Maison de Jo?l Robuchon in Bordeaux (which he oversaw for two years until 2016), the heart of, arguably, France’s greatest region for food and wine. 

Here is his gastronomic guide to Bordeaux and the surrounding area, as told to Telegraph Travel in 2015. 

What makes the cuisine special?

It’s the geographic situation, with the Garonne river and the harbour, the salt marshes and the dunes to the west, and the Gironde estuary to the north. Bordeaux has produce that is world-famous: oysters from the Bay of Arcachon; milk-fed Pauillac lamb, grazed on the Médoc marshes; and cèpes de Bordeaux, in my opinion the best mushrooms in France. They grow superb raspberries just a few kilometres from here; they rear ducks for magret de canard (duck breast); and the asparagus, too, is wonderful.

What dish sums it up?

Lamproie à la bordelaise, an eel-like fish from the Gironde estuary – Europe’s widest, where the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers meet. It’s slow-cooked in red wine, of course, with seasonal vegetables, veal bone and Bayonne bacon from the Basque Country, then traditionally served the following day.

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What else should I look out for?

There’s crépinette, like a small sausage, or a sausage parcel, served with oysters – a contrast of hot and cold. Red wine sauce, obviously, is another speciality. The most famous product of all is the cannelé, a small, sweet cake shaped like a castle. Then there is sarment, the wood from the vines. In the winter, the vines are pruned and the branches are cut off, dried and used for barbecues; it gives the food a smoky, distinctive taste. If you do lamb this way, the smell and the flavour are completely different. The perfect accompaniment would be a vintage wine from the same vineyard.

The best restaurant for brunch

The Intercontinental Bordeaux Le Grand H?tel, right in the centre of town, has beautiful architecture evoking the Belle époque of the 19th century. It’s the best place to pick up l’ame de Bordeaux, the special atmosphere of the city. There’s a brasserie which does a good buffet breakfast, while Gordon Ramsay runs Le Pressoir d’Argent, its fine-dining restaurant. The hotel looks out on the Place de la Comédie and you can sit outside when it’s sunny. I might have a coffee and a croissant or just a little cannelé pastry. In Bordeaux there’s an English legacy – so brunch might be eggs, omelette or a savoury pancake.

Then, on the Garonne each Sunday morning, there’s the Marché des Quais right on the quayside. It’s a meeting place for all the Bordelais people. There’s a big farmers’ market with fruits, vegetables and other regional produce, but also furniture, books and crafts. It’s the place to go on a Sunday for oysters and a glass of white wine at 11am, or bread with cold meats, cheeses, seafood or foie gras.

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Where to go for lunch

In the historic centre of Bordeaux is La Tupina, where the food is cooked in a huge fireplace. When a president visits, they have lunch here. It’s an institution.

Le Noailles is a typical Bordelais brasserie where the waiters are dressed in black and white. You can have oysters, or a dish called tricandilles – pig’s tripe, which is only ever cooked on the grill. It’s a really old speciality of Bordeaux, and Le Noailles is the best place to try it.

For lunch with a view, La Corniche is a beautiful spot. It’s up on La Dune du Pilat (Europe’s highest dune) – a Thirties hunting lodge in the Basque style, redesigned by Philippe Starck. They serve all the produce of the Arcachon Basin, so oysters and fish. It’s very fashionable but you go there for the view, not the food. I’d just have an aperitif – seafood carpaccio, say, with a glass of wine or champagne.

The best fine dining

Apart from La Grande Maison [now run by Pierre Gagnaire], the only fine dining restaurant is in the north of Médoc – Chateau Cordeillan-Bages, set in the Chateau Lynch-Bages vineyards in Pauillac, between the Garonne and the Atlantic. As you might expect, there are 1,500 wines in the cellar, including all the Bordeaux Grands Crus. Dishes might include warm foie gras in a cereal crust with port reduction and melon sorbet, king crab ravioli with Aquitaine caviar, and crispy suckling pig with piquillos (a type of chilli) and watermelon.

About 60 miles south of Bordeaux is Les Prés d’Eugénie – Michel Guérard’s acclaimed restaurant, with three Michelin stars. It’s a beautiful place with wonderful, creative food: spider crab and grapefruit water Madras, with crunchy fritters of tangy sorrel leaves; silky blinis of black and white truffles; or beautiful scampi grilled on the embers with marsala duck consommé. There’s a more affordable menu, too, featuring home-made foie gras, truffles, ceps, white asparagus, pig’s trotter and smoked eel.

Where to have an aperitif

The place to go for a drink and a beautiful view in summer is the rooftop bar at the Grand Hotel de Bordeaux. Famous in the region is an aperitif called Lillet, which comprises white wine, sugar, sweet and sour oranges, and spices. It’s made by an old family from south of Bordeaux.

Another good bet for dinner

There’s a little place in the old centre of Bordeaux, called Miles Restaurant, with four young chefs – one Korean, one Danish, one Indian, and one English. They do only one menu with six or seven dishes and it’s very original, world cuisine with different influences: smoked fish with Indian flavours, for example. The restaurant itself is modern and well designed.