Restaurants in Bourges & Loches

If you don't get suggestions and may not for these less-traveled towns, go to a bookstore and peruse the Michelin Red guide, the 'bible' of French restaurant ratings - gives menu prices, specialties, days closed, local delicacies, etc. - a great guide to fine eating.

Between Bourges and Sancerre there is the potter's town of La Borne (near Henrichemont). It has a single grocery store which doubles as a restaurant with very good honest food.

Google "viamichelin", and you can call up a map of both places, and a complete listing of all Michelin-mentioned restaurants in each. Registration of the site is free.

We were in Bourges several times last year. Our favorite restaurant was d'Antan Sancerrois in the heart of old Bourges:
D' Antan Sancerrois
50, Rue Bourbonnoux
18000 Bourges
Tel : 02 48 65 96 26
Fax : 02 48 70 50 82

The nearby Museum of Decorative Arts (in the Hôtel Lallemant, built in 1500) is definitely worth exploring, especially the top floor with its quirky collection of old games and toys. Don't be surprised if you have the museum all to yourself.

We had dinner at d'Antan Sancerrois three times and were never disappointed. Reservations strongly advised. Bourges is a great city to explore.
Our other favorite restaurant was La Tour in Sancerre, 31 Nouvelle Place, Tél. : 33(0)2.48.54.00.81. Again, reservations highly recommended. The ground floor dining room is much prettier than the upstairs; request a ground floor table when you reserve. La Tour is just down the street from the Vacheron winery tasting room, which you really should try if you can. We came back with several cases of Vacheron's Les Romains white and Belle Dame red.

Also in Bourges is the Restaurant L'Abbaye de Saint-Ambroix in the Mercure Grand Hotel de Bourbon. It is (arguably) the most serious gourmet restaurant in town. We stayed in that hotel and St. Ambroix is a beautiful room with an impressive menu, but we just didn't feel like eating in the hotel.
We had lunch at Le Senat, a well regarded seafood restaurant in Bourges. It was good, but as we arrived fairly late, we were the last customers there and because almost everyone had already finished by the time we were seated, it didn't have the normal ambience.

In Loches, we LOVED the lunch we had at the dining room of the Hotel Saint Antoine (Place de la Marne, I think). Delicious "cuisine grand-mere" and inexpensive. The restaurant was quite busy; I don't know if they take reservations, we were lucky enough to snag one of the last tables available and it was completely full and lively while we were there. One of our favorite lunches during our trip.

One of our favorite excursions in the Bourges regions was to Ainay le Vieil
(http://www.cg18.fr/commune/ainay-le-vieil/). While my husband toured the chateau, the cocker and I relaxed in the gardens. We had the place to ourselves--a nice change to the more crowded chateaux like Chambord, etc.

The one place in the region we really did NOT like was Aubigny sur Nere, the supposed center of witchcraft. It was over commercialized with a surprisingly large amount of tacky stuff for a small town.

The correct address for the Hotel Tour St. Antoine is 2 rue Moulins, tel 02 47 59 01 06, but the photo I have shows a sign for Place de la Marne. Anyway, you see the hotel as you take the main road through Loches.

One last comment: if you are driving around Sancerre and feeling adventurous, check out the restaurant Le Tire Bouchon (wine pull, or corkscrew) in nearby Montigny on Route Aix Tel: 02 48 69 57 67
We heard that this is where the region's vintners like to hang out. We meant to go there, but forgot. If you do, let us know what it's like! (You will see a sign for it on the main road from Sancerre to Bourges, about 5 miles or so from Sancerre.)

PalQ, really, you should wait more than 20 minutes before telling a new poster that they're not likely to get any responses to their post!

Hi BTilke. We are also Sancerre lovers, both the town and the wine, and have been to Vacheron a couple of times. Have even bought a painting from Robert Heraud on the Nouvelle Place. Will return next month, and will take your suggestion and eat at La Tour. Have you eaten at J. Meliot, also on the Nouvelle Place?

No, we were too lazy--we found a restaurant we liked (La Tour) so opted to keep going back instead of trying someplace new. We did look at the Meliot restaurant and it certainly seems inviting (as you know from your own trips there) but never went. I think Dave_in_Paris has been there though and likes it.
I still am curious about Le Tire-Bouchon though and wished we had detoured to look at it at least. Oh well, another day.
P.S. Re La Tour and the two floors...the ground floor is elegant. The upstairs is modern and bland, it had a good share of tourists with noisy kids when we were there, so definitely request a ground floor table! If we had been seated upstairs, I don't think we would have liked the restaurant nearly as much.

Abiah, our favorite in Bourges was also D'Antan Sancerrois, the one that BTilke already mentioned. The atmosphere is casual and convivial, a relaxing wine bar cum bistro, and the food very good. While casual, this is definitely a popular spot, and I'd not chance it without reservations.

We also enjoyed dinner one evening at Le Jacques Coeur located opposite the Palais Jacques Coeur at 3 place Jacques Coeur. Ph: 02 48 70 12 72. It has a very different atmosphere from D'Antan Sancerrois - neo-Gothic in style and a bit pricier. The food was very good.

As we didn't get to try the L'Abbaye St-Ambroix in our hotel, Le Bourbon - it was closed for a three-week period that included our stay, I can't comment about the food. However, it is a beautiful, dramatic, multileveled space in a former 16th century abbey chapel.

Thanks to everyone who replied. Hope to try Le Tire Bouchon.Am looking forward to visiting this part of France. This will be our 3rd trip to the DDay beaches. I like to include other things. abiah

If you do get to Le Tire-Bouchon, fill us in! I suspect it's either a casual dive where the locals like to drink and smoke away from tourists and winery customers *or* it could be a great undiscovered gem. Or maybe even something else entirely.

Re Tire Bouchon. I expect to eat/dine/smoke/drink/whatever-is-expected on 9/30. I'll report, eventually.