Toulouse: Summer break in the city center on the banks of the Garonne.
In Toulouse, several guinguettes have emerged near the Garonne. A feeling of freshness at aperitif time
It’s not a scoop, the guinguettes have become the new places of the Toulouse summers. Scattered all over the city and on the outskirts, each tries to be unique, often offering a bucolic environment, far from the urban trepidation. In the city center too, some play the card of freshness on the banks of the Garonne, offering an unforgettable postcard at sunset.
La Turbine (11 Quai St Pierre, open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, except Monday lunchtime. Reservation required 0602440866). This guinguette borrows the name of the EDF energy production from Bazacle. Ideally located, it offers a panoramic view of Saint-Pierre, Graves and Place Viguerie. A beach version with palm trees, wooden furniture and the feeling of being on the deck of a ship. With also, insists the manager, Bastien “real dishes on the tables”. A rope canvas pergola designed by Nora is stretched to protect against the sun. The menu prepared by the cook Sébastien Ochoa offers hot and cold tapas and suggested dishes. “Not to mention the desserts of La Belle Liégeoise and a cocktail menu created by Alexandre Gaveaux, ex-bartender at l’Heure du Singe”. Of course, you have to get there around 7 p.m. to watch the setting sun.
La Guinguette (37 quai de Tounis. Open Monday to Thursday from 1 am to midnight and Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to midnight. Without reservation). Installed since 2015 on the banks of the Garonne, the Guinguette is now well known to Toulouse residents. Dressed this year with a row of olive trees accompanied by light garlands, the Guinguette produced by the All For You group has become a real terrace by the water. Associated for the kitchen at the Kiosk, it offers Vietnamese preparations with fragrant flavors and an unforgettable sunset on the Pont-Neuf. “This family site can also become very trendy with a DJ and a Saint-Trop atmosphere”, assures Enzo, the manager.
Racines (place Bernard Lange. Open 7 days a week, midday and evening, until midnight on weekdays, weekends until 1 a.m. Reservation from 10 people). Launched in 2021 as part of Toulouse Plage, Racines is located at the foot of the Ferris wheel installed this year on July 15. According to Olivier Bouscatel, one of the managers with Ludo Sonneman and Louis Ferrer, it would offer the most beautiful sunset on the Saint-Pierre bridge. On the menu, a formula for lunch and tapas in the evening of fresh products. Man, sushi man prepares sushi on the spot on demand. In addition, two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday, an oyster farmer from Arcachon sets up his oyster tank. Lock (2 Impasse du Pt St Michel). Created in 2018 by Toulouse Métropole and managed by the Sapiens group, which operates it for Ivo Danaf, L’Ecluse is installed under the plane trees below the river, a stone’s throw from the old lock keeper’s house. She would have, it seems, 5° less than the normal temperature as long as she is lulled by a little fresh air. A family place in operation all day long: At lunchtime, a €19 formula is ideal for customers in a hurry. In the afternoon, lemonade by the water and in the evening, relaxation around elaborate dishes. “For the closing of the season, on September 30, a musical closing is planned”, recalls Erwin, partner of Ivo Danaf.
Finally, the last place for this summer break on the banks of the Garonne: Pêcheurs de Sable (below the Quai de la Daurade, open 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 07 69 09 27 74), a pretty guinguette with small lights where you can savor quality dishes. A place which owes its name to the sand fishermen who during the 19th century, at low water, seized colanders to sort the grains of sand, used to make cement. Then, on their flat-bottomed barge, loaded with their harvest of sand, they then traveled the banks of the Garonne. Hence the name of this pretty guinguette. A less romantic reminder, the place was also a former morgue which in past centuries welcomed the drowned sea bream.
It only remains for everyone to choose their place on the banks of the Garonne and let the summer slip away.