How to eat well in Europe on a small budget. Photo / Getty Images
How to eat well in Europe on a small budget. Photo / Getty Images
The ultimate food trail (by rail) across France and Paris will leave you hungry for more, and fortunately for the frugal traveller, you don’t need to remortgage the house to do it, writes Stephen Emms
Growing up in London, I’ve been travelling on the Eurostar regularly since it launched exactly 30 years ago. Realising I hadn’t visited Paris for years, this spring I decided to make it the starting point of a rail trip south to a trio of famed foodie cities: Bordeaux, San Sebastian and Bilbao. With limited funds, however, my aim was to hunt out well-priced lunch menus, tasty street food stalls, happy hours and, in Spain, the tasty tapas known as pintxos. Incidentally, European rail tickets are surprisingly good value if booked up front — although it’s essential to reserve a seat otherwise you’ll be standing.
How to dine in Paris without blowing the budget
Sure, my partner and I were in town only overnight, but we were determined to eat well without totally breaking the bank — not an easy task in the pricey French capital. Lunchtime is when most bargains prevail, especially midweek, with many restaurants offering a plat du jour or menu du jour. Thankfully, it was a Thursday, enabling us, fresh off the high-speed train, to eat spontaneously at chef Maximilian Wollek’s Michelin-recommended Bistrot Instinct (€25/NZ$44 for two courses at lunchtime). In its airy mezzanine area, we devoured starters of herring with cauliflower and corn velouté with chorizo, before sea trout with beurre blanc and a paupiette of veal and pork with pommes purees.
Book a table at Bouillon Julien. Photo / Stephen Emms
If that’s still beyond your budget, hit a bouillon: originally canteens for the working classes dating back to the 1850s, and named after the broth served, they’re enjoying a renaissance. Many are walk-in only, but some, such as the wildly popular Bouillon Pigalle and Bouillon Julien, are bookable. With our 7.30pm reservation for the latter, we felt smug strolling past the snaking queue of hopefuls into its magnificently ornate art-nouveau interior to ponder starters priced at just €4-€9 and mains €9-€13. Expect traditional no-frills French cooking — skirt steak with potatoes and pepper sauce or hake with sauerkraut — washed down with a 500ml carafe of decent red for a lowly €8.
Speaking of booze, happy hours here run mostly between 5pm-8pm, or 8pm-10pm depending on the bar (try the terrace at Le Carrefour in Marais), with a large beer around €4-€5 rather than €8, and a cocktail €6; on a Thursday, as we discovered, it’s even happy hour all night in many Marais bars. We began our trip in style staying at Le General in Republique.
Signature sirloin frites at L'entrecote, Bordeaux. Photo / Stephen Emms
Dine magnificently yet frugally in Bordeaux, France
Arriving fuzzy headed on a Friday afternoon after a 2.5-hour train ride, it seemed a daunting task to eat well — and cheaply — in this port city in southwest France. Thankfully, it was happy hour, even on a Friday: escaping a biblical downpour on the town’s glistening 18th-century cobbles, we found ourselves sipping cheap pints of craft beer on the covered terrace at the hip Skull Miroir bar, near famous square Place De La Bourse (its happy hour runs 4pm-8pm).
Glancing at the GPS, we saw we were a couple of minutes’ walk from legendary no-bookings steakhouse L’Entrecote, which has been operating since 1959. Opening for dinner at 7pm — although hungry punters gather outside long before that — we tried our luck in the lengthy queue, happily making the first sitting in its yellow-tableclothed interior. The €22 one-choice menu comprises a walnut salad starter with fresh bread, followed by thinly sliced ruby-red sirloin in a lake of signature buttery-peppery sauce, served on a silver platter with (unlimited) mounds of perfect chips. House Bordeaux is €19 a bottle — a steal in one of the world’s great wine capitals — meaning you can dine magnificently for just over €30 a head.
Enjoy the buckwheat savoury galettes with decadent yolks and crispy edges. Photo / Stephen Emms
The foodie revelations didn’t stop there: colourful markets were our focus the next day, starting with breakfast at the sprawling Marche Des Capuchins, a centuries-old affair — nicknamed the Belly of Bordeaux — with 80 eclectic stalls. Olive, fruit, flower and bread stalls (don’t miss local pastry canelé) sit alongside glistening fish on ice: many families were schlurping down oysters at 11am. Perched at the counter of Breton creperie O’billig, we ordered gourmet buckwheat savoury galettes (€7-€12), their yolks explodingly orange, plus a crisp glass of white, as all the residents were doing at 11am.
A walk along the Garonne River takes you to recently refurbished landmark wine museum Cite De Vin. Tip: if you don’t want to pay for entry, take the lift up to the bar for a drink with panoramic views. Here, too, is Les Halles de Bacalan, a contemporary street food market with 22 stalls, where we idled all afternoon grazing plates hovering between €5-€10, from yakitori to slow-cooked pork with red peppers. A highlight? The toasted crab brioche sandwich (€9.50) at seafood specialist Les Requins Marteaux, while fromagerie Rober & Rober serves three unctuous cheeses with bread for €10. Equally recommended is well-located budget aparthotel StayCity.
The toasted crab brioche sandwich at seafood specialist Les Requins Marteaux is a must-try. Photo / Stephen Emms
Snacks on a shoestring budget in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Three to four hours away by rail, depending on timings, this destination Basque city has a fearsome reputation for food. And only 20km from the French border, a change of trains at Hendaye-Irun memorably involved crossing a pedestrian bridge over the river separating the two countries.
Set on the curve of La Concha Bay, San Sebastian’s old town is atmospherically located at the foot of Monte Urgull between the port and Urumea River. Here hundreds of pintxo bars, nestled within narrow streets, are of dazzlingly differing quality. For the uninitiated, pintxo literally means “spike”, a tapas-like snack on a sliver of bread generally served with a toothpick to hold it in place.
With careful online research, we avoided tourist traps. Serving all afternoon (unlike many that close between lunch and dinner) is long-running Casa Vergara opposite the Santa Maria church, an ideal first stop for creative plates (from €3.90) of oozy tortilla or slow-cooked egg with cod skin. Calamari fans should hit nearby Bar Martinez, while rowdier Bar Sport, always rammed by 7pm, is popular for its pink hamburgers, grilled solomillo, and chipiron (from €4).
Enjoy tasty calamari at Bar Martinez. Photo / Stephen Emms
Two more restaurants stood out: the more contemporary Bar Antonio for scallops with truffle puree and crispy oxtail in a rich jus (about €5 a pop); and Ganbara in the old town, where even on a wet Tuesday evening we only just nabbed the last two spots at its marble counter: next-level pintxos (about €3-€6) included spider crab tart and battered white asparagus, while the downstairs dining room offers txuleta, the prized Basque rib steak. Local dry sparkling wine Txakoli is €2-€3 a glass. Stay at smart, centrally located Legazpi Doce Rooms.
Try the unique spider crab tart. Photo / Stephen Emms
Good value food and beer in Bilbao, Spain
For anyone who thinks San Sebastian is the last word in pintxos, the more low-key pleasures of our final stop, grittier Bilbao, were equally thrilling. And it’s only an hour’s bus ride away; a train takes much longer. With a lively student population, it’s extremely good value all round for beer and wine (€2-€3 a glass), as well as food.
The old town, Casco Viejo, is home to flawless corner joints like Baster (try the meatballs) and Kapikua (excellent breakfast pintxos) as well as riverside street food market La Ribera, which houses a dozen tempting stalls (from €2.20, try the skewers of juicy prawn and Gordal olive). Top recommendation, however, is Gure Toki in sunny Plaza Nueva: here it’s pintxos as art — think exquisite chargrilled octopus or fried squid in a tiny aioli-lined charcoal bun (about €4-€8).
Get the best seafood dishes at Gure Toki. Photo / Stephen Emms
Most restaurants here — such as long-running Kasko in Caso Viejo — offer a budget three-course menu del dia, including a glass of wine (€14-€20), while for a pricier last-night splash-out we enjoyed acclaimed new opening Aure, about €35 for two courses of Iberican presa pork or monkfish anticucho with cauliflower puree. The bohemian Pension Basque Boutique, too, is outstanding value.
