Where to eat a good beef bourguignon?

When we think of traditional French dishes, boeuf bourguignon usually springs to mind. This beef estouffade, traditional to Burgundian cuisine, is an absolute comfort food with its red wine sauce and simple garnish of mushrooms, lardons and small onions.

In the past, bœuf bourguignon was known as "estouffade de bœuf", a kind of stew made with beef and red wine, two emblematic products of the Burgundy region. This peasant dish was served at village festivals, notably with toasted bread rubbed with garlic, before it became the Sunday stew we all know.

Nowadays, very few restaurants still feature this emblematic dish of French cuisine, which is so popular throughout France. For those who don't have the courage to cook it, here are five addresses between Paris and Burgundy, where you can enjoy a delicious boeuf bourguignon.

Café des Musées, Paris

Café des Musées is an institution in the Marais district of Paris. Here you can enjoy traditional cuisine, including a delicious beef bourguignon concocted with chuck from the Côte Roannaise, Limousin or Charolais breeds. The meat is cooked for 5 to 6 hours in red wine, and the chef adds lardons, carrots, mushrooms, celery, peppercorns and cloves for flavor. This beef bourguignon is served with a creamy purée for a comforting moment.

• Where to eat? Le Café des Musées, 49 rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris
• www.lecafedesmusees.fr

La Cabotte, in Nuits-Saint-Georges

Having worked at Lameloise, among other places, Thomas Protot has since opened his own restaurant, La Cabotte, where he champions home-cooked cuisine, featuring unmissable Burgundy specialties. On the menu: snails, poached eggs with Chardonnay, veal sweetbreads or beef bourguignon, served with excellent mashed potatoes. To accompany it, you can choose from the wine list, which boasts almost 500 appellations!

• Where to eat? La Cabotte, 24 Grande Rue, 21700 Nuits-Saint-Georges
• www.lacabotte.fr

Garum, Beaune

Awarded the Terroir d'Exception en Bourgogne trophy by Gault&Millau, Garum is a lively restaurant in Beaune, advocating quality and simplicity. In this former bourgeois house in the heart of town, Christophe Bocquillon gives pride of place to local produce, and makes mouths water with his cromesquis ofescargots and fried garlic sabayon, confit pork belly and open bell pepper ravioli, but above all his "B'oeuf Bourguignon" with red wine sauce and potato espuma. A light, contemporary version that allows you to follow up with a dessert without feeling guilty.

• Where to eat? Garum, 10 rue de l'Hôtel Dieu, 21200 Beaune
• www.garum-beaune.fr

Le National, Dijon

Le National is a bistronomic restaurant with an Art Deco design, opening in Dijon in 2021. Chef Théo Fillon and his brigade like to work with raw produce and revisit local dishes such as soft-boiled "morbiflette" egg with Morbier cream, Morteau sausage and fried onions, or butter-roasted sweetbreads served with parsnip mousseline. You'll also be able to enjoy a nice piece of Angus beef cheek cooked at a low temperature, shredded and pressed in its own juices, with a Burgundy sauce and carrot balls.

• Where to eat? Le National, 42 rue Pasteur, 21000 Dijon
• www.lenational-dijon.fr

Au Bourguignon du Marais, Paris

At Le Bourguignon du Marais, the cuisine is traditional and meticulous, even a little canaille. In addition to mimosa eggs, parsley ham and tartare, the house offers a very good beef bourguignon, with lardons and mushrooms. Here, this ancestral dish is simply served with pommes grenailles.

• Where to eat? Au Bourguignon du Marais, 52 rue François Miron, 75004 Paris
• www.aubourguignondumarais.fr