Welcome to Toulouse’s budget Michelin-star scene

Top-notch cuisine doesn’t have to break the bank in France’s pink city, finds Damien Gabet

Thursday 14 April 2022 13:49 BST

Foodies flock to the Languedoc’s historic capital (Patrick Daubert)

Haussmann boulevards fringed with pollarded planes. Endless bent-wood rattan sprawling from bars and brasseries. Dented Renaults beeping a little too often.

Toulouse has all the hallmarks you’d expect of France’s fourth city. But there’s something about the Languedoc’s historic capital that’s different. And not just the ferrous brick that gives La Ville Rose (the ‘Pink City’) its sobriquet.

The people, for one. I know that sounds trite, but they are a bit different. To the residents of Toulouse’s three big sisters (Paris, Marseille, Lyon), that is. More affable, less… French. Why? That’s a conversation to be had over a bottle of négrette (the local grape) in Le 5, the city’s best wine bar.

Toulouse, for obvious reasons, is known as the Pink City (Gilles Martin)

But as Michelin-starred chef Michel Sarran put it: “We’re proud. We act with panache. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” It took me 15 minutes in a bar-tabac to realise that Toulousains have a good sense of humour, and that they’re only too happy to share ‘un verre’ with someone they’ve just met. France’s take on the Yorkshireman.

Understanding Toulouse’s DNA helps to explain its storied food culture. This is the land of gout-be-damned foie gras, cassoulet and confit duck. A lardy carnival of calories, designed to keep the farmers ploughing, but to tickle the tastes of the bourgeoisie, too.

Of late, Toulouse’s egalitarian view of food has been playing out among its most decorated chefs: they’ve started opening second, more affordable, eateries for people like you and me to dine in. It’s why I jumped on the Eurostar for the first time in two years for a stay at brand new Hotel Soclo, a townhouse of Goldilocks proportions, a few minutes’ walk from the action.

Toulouse’s egalitarian view of food has been playing out among its most decorated chefs: they’ve started opening second, more affordable, eateries

First up on my gluttonous run was Michel Sarran’s Ma Biche Sur le Toit. Not what I was expecting: bar in the round with a clubby atmosphere. While the decor had the whiff of a 1970s subcontinental airport lounge, the plates were artful. Especially the beetroot gravlax, with its dinky blobs and cubes of colour.

The African and Singaporean duo that run the kitchen have created an “international” menu that suits a city welcoming more new inhabitants than any other in France. It was raining that night, so I was inside, but the views from its terrace are said to be the best in town.

Blue skies the next day invited a boozy picnic on the edge of the Garonne, Toulouse’s main vein. I filled my hamper at Melsát – chef Yannick Delpech’s swanky new charcuterie shop – with a few slices of duck terrine en croute, threaded with a handsome cable of foie gras. It’s hard to imagine a more decadent slice.

Toulouse’s traditional Fénétra tart (Chloé Sabatie)

Delpech’s foray into meaty treats came by consequence of a run-in with the bellicose Gilets Jaunes. Following his Facebook censure of their heavy-handed MO, the protest group responded by burning down L’Amphitryon, his Michelin-starred restaurant. Twice. His more democratically priced deli remains unsinged.

As does Sandyan, his salon de thé, round the corner. On the ground floor, superlative pastries are presented in glass cabinets befitting a jewellers; on the mezzanine, bento-box lunches are served with bijou spring rolls, soup and a lemon and salted-butter puff-pastry bread bun. The latter, a staple of his erstwhile Michelin premises, was game-changer good.

The Japanese influence is down to chef Hitoshi Araki, who worked for him at L’Amphitryon. Any virtuousness his macrobiotic menu brought to the sitting was quickly extinguished with my snarfing of some traditional Toulousain sweet treats, most notably the chef’s take on a classic Fénétra tart, made since antiquity.

On the ground floor, superlative pastries are presented in glass cabinets befitting a jewellers

That evening’s dinner was where things hit a high note. Chef Pierre Lambinon, famous for his Michelin-starred restaurant Py-R, has recently opened Brasserie Nino. Again, incongruous interiors (hipster plywood and metro tiles) threw me off, but the quality of the dining experience was easily on a par with those I’ve had in more rarefied venues.

The amuse bouche, an elegant gourd potage; the langoustine with chorizo risotto; the chocolate pain perdu; even the spicy martini: all an inarguable triumph. Unsurprisingly, Nino uses the same techniques and suppliers as its illustrious elder, but with simpler products.

Pesky QR code issues – Covid passes are no longer required in restaurants, thank God – prevented me from entering Côté Comptoir, Michelin-starred Stephane Tournié’s second place. So, instead, I went to eat at chef Sébastien Boyer’s new premises, La Gourmandine Côté Cathédrale.

Foodies’ paradise: Marché Victor Hugo (Agence PGO)

The 30-year-old original, opposite Victor Hugo food market, is a favourite among foodie locals, and the ‘bistronomy’ food on my table felt familiar but well-turned. Their fried artichokes with gribiche cream lives longest in the memory, though the whole bass was what evoked the biggest ‘Ooh’. This was the best service of the trip, too.

Speaking of the market, I enjoyed a jolly jaunt around the brutalist building that houses it with Toulouse’s only English-speaking foodie tour guide, Jessica Hammer. We finished off a morning of food porn with a bottle of local mauzac and a selection of sensational cheeses from Xavier, a master monger who serves most of the restaurants above. His aged comte has unilaterally redefined my opinion of hard cheeses.

Dining en plein air in the Place Du Capitole (Patrice Thébault)

My final stop before the train home was with Michel Sarran at his new fast food venture, Croq’ Michel. A beloved household name in France, owing to his stint on the popular TV series Top Chef, Sarran is known for his love of croque monsieurs. With the help of his two industrious daughters, his new launch offers his favourite toasties, elevated with quintessential Toulousain panache.

I went local with the confit duck, potato, béchamel and sheep’s cheese ‘Croque Gascon’. It was paired with black truffle crisps and followed by ‘grandma’s apple gratin’ (reassuring, fatty, fabulous). And for £13.50, including a drink, well – you’ve nothing Toulouse.