L'Essentiel

Rating: 15
Author: Gault&Millau

8 Rue de la Clarté, 24000 Périgueux, France

15/20
Remarkable Restaurant

BOOK

8 PHOTOS

Location: Périgueux
Chef: Éric Vidal
Cooking: French | Gastronomic
Services: Pets allowed, Terrace
Style: Romantic

Budget (€)

Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

74 to 112

Gault&Millau's review 2026

15/20

Remarkable Restaurant

This is one of Périgueux's finest restaurants, judiciously installed just a few meters from Saint-Front Cathedral, as if to line up with the city's monuments. Éric and Magali Vidal follow in the grand tradition, offering above all experience and know-how, distinguishing themselves less by innovation than by communicative wisdom. The discreet table is in unmistakable good taste, and reveals a true sense of timelessness on the plate. We return for these dishes worthy of special occasions: white asparagus just warmed, morels and egg 63°C, morel jus reduced to a creamy sauce with plum almond oil, whose only reproach could be the slightly uneven cooking of the asparagus, then the remarkable half-pigeon in a sugared almond crust, confit leg, roasted sweet potato declension, fine purée and chips, carcass sauce, quite exemplary and rich in taste. Last but not least, the fine, melting 75% tukalum dark chocolate tartlet baked just in time, fresh pear and almond-saffron ice cream, with an unforgettable ganache. Beautiful cellar book and warm service by Magali.