La Tupina
Rose du Jour
Terrine, Rilette, Radishes, Cauliflower, Butter, Bread
Pork and Duck Sanguette
Foie Gras Terrine with Sweet Wine Cadillac
Black Pig Le porc noir de Bigorre – Roasted Medium Rare with Pommes Puree
French Toast with Jam and Crème Anglaise
Canele with Walnut Ice Cream and Caramel
Mini Canele
Fried Dough
Suggested by two well traveled friends as the best place in Bordeaux for an authentic experience featuring the sort of cuisine served in homes across Southern France, it was with good fortune that La Tupina offers dinner late into Sunday night, and finding the rustic space mostly empty but extremely welcoming at the time of a 19h30 arrival the experience was everything that was promised, though the kitchen’s unwillingness to size down any of the plates limited options for solo dining while still driving a nearly €100 price.
No doubt taking its craft seriously, proteins as well as produce sourced from many of the region’s best purveyors with heritage breeds abound, a visit to La Tupina begins in the foyer where ingredients are plainly laid out in full view and with daily specials added to an already sizable carte the only questions are ones of appetite and predilections, the best bet undoubtedly arriving with a large group ready to order in abundance and share plates round-by-round.
Not particularly busy during a frigid night in late November, only four other parties present during the course of my two hour stay, service is casual but caring in a decidedly French manner, my three plate initial selection warned to be “too much,” but eventually allowed when I was assured that smaller portions of the cassoulet and macaroni could not be prepared.
Not for lack in offal or meat, a basket of crudites served alongside housemade bread even offering a pate and terrine, the meal began with a glass or local Rose served alongside a thick slab of foie gras tempered by light notes of wine and whether eaten all alone or slathered on toasty buttered brioche the flavor was only surpassed by the texture, a lesson in creaminess handed down in each bite.
Moving next to something new, my only experience with sanguette to this point a small bite served within Michelin Starred environs as part of the canapes, La Tupna upped the ante substantially with it’s blood pancake, the diameter easily nine inches with a quarter inch thickness still ever so slightly gelatinous, the richness still too much for just one person to enjoy all alone even as bites of pork and duck helped break up the textural monotony.
Tough to decide between the cassoulet, signature foie infused pasta, duck, or confit wing off goose it was actually the waitress who convinced me to steer off course, and although a pork chop may seem a bit ‘safe’ at such a place the use of Black Pig de Bigorre made the results anything but typical, the medium rare roast offering a rich nuttiness with gamy undertones akin to lamb while the roasting juice soaked into silky pommes puree.
Assuming that such a meal would nix dessert it was again with questions of capacity that an order of two house signatures was met, but persisting that I would likely be fine and was happy to pay regardless it was after a short delay wandering the heavily wooded space that the request was granted, the steaamy Pain Perdu baked golden with fig preserves and a sidecar of Crème Anglaise while the housemade canele were without doubt the best tasted in the city, the crackling-shelled duo sliced and served with a dollop of nutty ice cream beneath a light drizzle of caramel.
http://www.latupina.com/tupina-restaurant-bordeaux/