Owner: Jean Pierre Xiradakis
This old quarter of Bordeaux was traditionally the money printers’ area. Jean Pierre Xiradakis grew up here, helping in his family’s hardware shop and watching his grandmother cook. Today this part of Bordeaux is the ‘Bobo’ area, meaning bourgeois and bohemian; La Tupina has done a great deal to add to this scene. Wander your way around the cobbled streets and you will enter this famed and traditional bistro, which opened in 1968, and which has a larger-than-life fireplace with a wooden table in front crammed with fresh local produce. Jean Pierre Xiradakis has created a lovely home-from-home feel that is truly authentic. There are many different rooms all crammed with artifacts and tables with checkered cloths, and as soon as you sit down and start to absorb the atmosphere, a smiling waiter brings a plate of crudités: sliced salami and small pieces of chitterlings sautéed in garlic and parsley, and a large basket of bread and Beurre Echiré, which is a favourite with good chefs. Already you know that this is going to be a feast to remember.
