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Photo by Guillaume Flandre on Unsplash
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Earlier this year, I got a chance to go to Bordeaux, a city in France's southwest and a two hour journey from Paris.
It wasn't a place I'd been before or had any expectations of, but it quietly stole my heart. It helped that the weather was glorious when we visited, the sort of sunshiny hours that you can while away just strolling through the old town, stopping for a drink at a pavement cafe, strolling along the waterfront and generally not doing very much, but still feeling like you've had a good day.
We spent a few days in Bordeaux, and we didn't eat out much. Bordeaux has a decent variety of vegan and veggie places, but we did see signs of more and more non-vegan places adding plant-based dishes to their menu. Most days, we'd pick up bits and pieces from the local supermarket. Most of our meals were things like bread, hummus, salads, fruit, crisps or nuts, and a beer or two, but the larger supermarkets we visited had vegan and veggie sections in if you were looking for something a bit more substantial.
We did manage to eat out a couple of times in the city. Having just got off the train and in need of a good feed, we rocked up at the improbably named Munchies.
Tucked away down a side street, you might walk past Munchies. That would be a mistake -- if you see it, you should definitely go in.
Munchies is a happy mix of bowl food and comfort food, and we got a mix of both.
Mr Flicking the Vs had the cheese toastie. Being a cheese dodger, I didn't venture near it, but Mr Flicking the Vs was complementary. He's not a fan of raw veg (I know, we all have our faults) so most of the salad came my way, and I was good with that. I know not everyone is convinced of the righteousness of raw mushrooms, but those people are wrong -- white mushrooms are at their best when they've not been bothered with any form of heat. Wouldn't have minded a bit of dressing, but not a deal breaker for me.
My dinner was a special of the day, a poke bowl. I'm not the world's greatest expert on poke, but I don't think this was technically poke. It was a big bowl of sushi rice, served with salad, meaty soy pieces and a lot of kewpie-style mayonnaise. It was actually really tasty, though.
The service was great, and they had local vegan craft beer, so I was happy. Oh, and another reason to give Munchies the thumbs-up: they have a set menu for students, a hotdog with cookie and crisps for €8. Vegan students in Bordeaux, you know where to go.
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| Bowl food meets comfort food at Munchies |
Another honourable mention goes to La Maison du Glacier, an organic ice cream place. There's an insane amount of flavours on offer, and a good amount of vegan ones too.
If you like sorbet, there's a lot of sorbets to be had, but having been offered sorbet as a dessert by lazy restaurants, I wanted to go full on ice cream. Happily, La Maison du Glacier has some traditional ice cream flavours but without any of the dairy nonsense. Behold, the ideal marriage of vegan ice cream with more vegan ice cream (that's vanilla and chocolate, but I guess you guessed that!)
The staff are very clued up on what's vegan and what's not, and they confirmed the cone was free of animal products, which made me very happy indeed.
The downside: it's not cheap. This mighty cone was around €5, which made my wallet shed a tear. Do I have any regrets? Nah, it was €5 well spent. On a gorgeous sunny day, strolling around Bordeaux, eating an ice cream as big as my head was ideal.
Munchies
21 Rue des Augustins33000 Bordeaux
La Maison du Glacier
facebook.com/lamaisonduglacier/
1 Place Saint-Pierre, 33000 Bordeaux
That picture of the city makes me want to hop on a train now! So beautiful.
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