Toulouse Gastro Guide

Chapter 3 of another bloody gastro guide in Toulouse, France!

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to Chapter 3 of another bloody gastro guide today in Toulouse, South France.

I met Toulouse on the way to surprise my friends in Spain for Christmas, a few months after leaving my life there for a new life in Berlin. It was quite the voyage to say the least, starting in Berlin to Görlitz on the German/Polish border, through Nuremberg and Baden-Baden (the German black forest), across the border into France to Strausberg, and then through Paris in trains, coaches, and cars. After Toulouse, I visited San Sebastian (in parts documented here) and ended the journey at my Spanish home, San Lorenzo de el Escorial, in the Sierra de Madrid.

That is 4271 km!

I will always treasure that journey, completely unrestricted in time and path, with nobody expecting my arrival besides myself. Apart from the passing strangers, no soul knew where I was, at points, not even myself. Being on the road felt like connecting my two worlds by land back to Madrid. The distance made my life feel massive, full of life, and blessed. Each km felt slow but worth every passing second. 

Toulouse played a part purely because I had been offered a place to stay in the flat of a cousin of a new friend I had just made in Berlin. I knew I would like Toulouse, but how good I felt there made the incidental meeting one of those moments too coincidental to not have been directed by some form of divine power.

The suggestions I will give you in this edition are all things that I did during those precious days I spent in Toulouse, which all hold a special place in my heart.

So here goes, with my outpouring of this love, to show you all why I thoroughly advise you to also meet Toulouse. 

Let’s Selon le marché! (go to the market!)

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Stumble across a market on the rue (street)

In Toulouse, unless you are completely blind, you will stumble across so many farmers markets that if you step foot in a supermarket, the produce police will be out to get you. This glorious array was the Saturday morning market on Place Arnaud Bernard. But honestly, just keep your eyes on the prize, and you’ll find.

Drink some breakfast peach juice by the Quai de la Daurade

In the second picture, you have a postcard impression of the Quai de la Daurade river bank. This postcard lives in my bedroom, and I feel warm-hearted every time I look at it. The Quai is an excellent place to sit no matter what time of day, and whatever you choose—a peach juice, a slice of Fénétra (a Toulousian tart with apricot and almonds in testament to the Roman times), or a packet of mints—just don’t miss out on the chance to enjoy a moment’s peace on the river bank. That’s all I ask of you.

Fall head over heels with the Victor Hugo Marche

You often have no expectations when you are the kind of person that goes with the flow. It is in this void of mystery where miracles can happen. One glorious day, I walked blindly into the Victor Hugo market, and saying I fell head over heels in love with that place doesn’t even feel like a phrase that satiates conveying that feeling. The market has 4.6 stars on Google; ignore it, it’s a 5.5. Was it the aesthetically pleasing font on the fishmonger products? Was it the French men at the deli flirting with me over a pot of duck rillettes? Was it the attention I got for my cute Spanish accent that I was using to masquerade my Englishness? Or was it the taste of the sausages?

Enjoy a Toulouse sausage snack at the market

It was the taste of the sausages. You can buy precooked Toulouse sausages in the Victor Hugo Market and that my friends, is a great snack to energize you for all of that exploring (causing trouble in) the market.

Brunch on a plate of oysters and a glass of white and observe the market hustle and bustle

I don’t know about you, but when I walk into a market on a Saturday morning and see people standing at a table chatting over a plate of oysters and a glass of white wine for breakfast, I know I am in a place where the art of living, is curated by its people to artistic perfection. There is nothing I enjoy more than joining in, in an attempt to be as artistic as them.

Then follow your oysters with a duck cassoulet on the terrace restaurant above the market

Oh cassoulet de Toulouse, a dish, to remove all blues.

I simply wish for you, should you be in Toulouse, that you choose to lose, an hour or two; with a glass of white or rouge. On a balcony where you can peruse the views below you, or perhaps gain virtue;

in a fine dish of cassoulet de Toulouse.

Have a duck rillette and crusty roll picnic

In the UK, you can picnic on a Tesco meal deal, or if you are lucky, perhaps you’re near Marks and Spencer. You have the Marche Victor Hugo in Toulouse, where you would be silly not to pick up a crusty roll and a pot of duck rillettes. Unlike me, you should probably also get some cornichons (little pickles). I had wished I did (it’s rich). After all, you want to eat the whole pot, right?

Walk off your duck rillettes by walking to more food at the Marche des Carmes

The Marche des Carmes, located in the historic part of the city, is another piece of the Toulousian puzzle not to miss. This one is more of a place to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere of the city in its bars, restaurants, or terraces.

Eat some foie gras

It could be said that no gastronomic tour of Toulouse is complete without trying some foie gras, as you would be in a place where the production of this controversial food is revered. I did; you could, too, but I won’t hold you to it.

Be cheesy in Xavier Fromagerie

I find it adorable that I took this video over a year ago, in awe of the cheese shop, not knowing that its purpose would be to be shared with you. Praise the smart phone I guess. As you can see, the Xavier cheese shop, just outside of the Victor Hugo Marche is like Alladin’s cave for those with cheese lust.

Have an Onglet Steak and purée de pommes de terre, and a glass of red dinner

Onglet steak is the best, a secret it seems to me only the French know. Why? An onglet steak is the skirt of a cow, aka the butcher's steak (because the butcher also knows the secret), which is very tender, but only if you know how to cook it correctly. Thankfully, the French know how to cook it, and a good job they do, because the density of flavour and almost ribboned texture of an onglet is unbeatable. 

I ate the one in the photo above at L'Alouette, a quaint and super French-feeling bistro that cooks fresh products directly from the market. I had fun winning the waiter over, who was noticeably shocked when the English girl ordered the onglet steak, let alone knew exactly how it was best cooked. Very rare, madame? Yes, monsieur. At L'Aloutte, the purée de pommes de terre (mash) and side salad are on as much as you can eat basis. I was showered with more than I needed without asking; I didn't mind if I did.

Get lost in thought on a long and winding road

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Disclaimer. You don’t have to travel 4271 km, either to get lost in Toulouse or get lost in thought on the long and winding road. But why not? That’s my motto clearly.

See you again next time, when we will be in my current hometown, Berlin!

Lots and lots of love from that bloody foody, that is, Lana

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