The best French cuisine restaurants Vélo Pays Basque

From the confidential raised terrace, you can enjoy watching Michel open oysters or carve Iberian charcuterie. Christine, in the dining room, makes sure that everything runs smoothly, just as she would at home: the customer comes to enjoy a moment of finesse. The plates are an invitation to gastronomy, and the couple's love of cooking is immediately apparent. The beige-toned decor, which blends wood and plants, and the passion for rugby are the icing on the cake, or rather the ball between the posts. The guide's favorite!

A very large room decorated with ancient beams, bay windows opening onto nature, and in its heart, many tables to welcome the fine gourmets who appreciate here a sacred diversity. On the menu, dishes from the past, based on local products cooked in their simplest form: Basque broken egg, local ventresca, fresh ewe's taloa, Banka trout and vegetables, cod a la plancha, garlic purée, Basque chicken, Estérençuby lamb cooked in a wood-fired oven, hake with roasted vegetables. For those with a sweet tooth, why not a Tatin minute... A spectacular kitchen around the spit, which can be seen from the room, and the wood-fired oven, installed under a canopy of tiles from which hang chillies and dried flowers. Innovative ideas that we owe to J.-M. Noullet, who has more than one trick up his sleeve. He focused on organic, organic flour for the bread, 80% to 90% organic vegetables, organic veal, organic lamb, organic buffet. He works the product with simplicity to keep its original flavours. And, from November to March, the Alsatian cuisine is put on the spotlight: Munster cheese puff pastry, sauerkraut with sauerkraut filling, apple streusel are on offer. There is also a hotel and spa on site for a relaxing and restful stay.

Nestling at an altitude of 420 m, at the bottom of the Aldudes valley, the village of Urepel is a border town bordering the Kintoa country, with pastures exploited by herdsmen and shepherds from the commune of the Baigorry valley, some 50 km from Bayonne. The hostel and now also the hotel, was taken over by Valérie and Christian who have brought the place back to life. Lunch or dinner in an exceptional setting, on the terrace with a view of the mountains or inside, where the culinary tradition is respected with local products.