Pauillac, June 2018 – Commonly known as the Café-Brasserie in the village of Bages, Le Café Lavinal is a popular dining choice for visitors in Bordeaux as well as winemakers and locals alike. Located next to Château Lynch-Bages, the café offers hearty, rustic French cuisine in a casual, cosy ambience. The Café was named after the grandmother of Jean-Michel Cazes, the proprietor of Château Lynch-Bages.

After our 3 hour class at Le Cercle Lynch-Bages, we walked across the road to Café Lavinal. We had the 3-course lunch – Menu Lavinal (Eur 28).

Starter –

Garbure Soup – Vegetable assortment veloute, ham hock and confit duck gizzards

Sturgeon – Fried, curly endive salad and tartar sauce

Main Course-

Veal Axoa – Veal emnice, pepper piperade with Espelette pepper

Salmon – Roasted from Pau, stir-fried courgettes with streaky bacon

Dessert-

Cannele from Bordeaux – crunchy and lukewarm small fluted rum-flavoured cake, peace tartare and sorbet

Basque Cake with Ixtassou cherries, sweet almond ice cream

Cheese Plate

I highly recommend pairing the meal with Echo de Lynch-Bages, the second wine of Château Lynch-Bages (Eun 75 per 75ml bottle).  After all, we were in the village of Bages. The lunch was the perfect ending to our visit to Pauillac.

All photos were taken by Mrs. King.