Most French regard lunch as the main meal of the day during the working week. This typically means a 3 or 4 course meal - not a sandwich or a burger. In order to accommodate this the lunch break is typically 2 hours - one to eat and one to recover! Many go home for lunch but that is not always practical and so a type of restaurant not typically found in the UK exists to feed the French at lunchtime. Here you will find a menu of 3 or 4 courses with little or no choice - depends on the days market - but usually of good quality. If there are lots of vehicles in the car park at about 12:15 then that tends to be a good sign. Lunch is at noon in France, service usually finishes at around 1:30pm. Vegetarians are not well catered for.

Many restaurants are only open for lunch and maybe 2 or 3 evenings a week. Sunday and Monday evenings are particularly difficult.

The restaurants below are some of our favourites in the immediate area. Click on the name at left of the map to see location, opening hours etc. and use the drop down menu on the map for driving directions. You will find many others near the coast, at Pau and at Mont de Marsan