Restaurant in Bidart, France
Third-generation Basque cooking that earns its price.
Ranked #347 in OAD Classical Europe 2025, La Table des Frères Ibarboure is Bidart's strongest case for a special occasion dinner. Third-generation family ownership, a Best Pastry Maker of France 2019 credential, and a kitchen garden feeding the menu directly put this well ahead of comparable €€€€ addresses in the region. Easier to book than its critical standing suggests.
Book La Table des Frères Ibarboure for a special occasion dinner in the Basque Country and you will find one of France's most convincing family-run fine dining addresses. Ranked #347 in the Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe list for 2025 (up from #362 in 2024), it carries real critical credibility without the booking gauntlet of Paris three-stars. At €€€€ pricing, this is serious money for Bidart, but the combination of third-generation family ownership, a Meilleur Ouvrier-level pastry pedigree, and a kitchen garden that feeds the menu directly makes the case for spending it here rather than at a comparable Paris address where the atmosphere is formal and the surroundings anonymous.
The Ibarboure family has been cooking in Bidart for three generations, which means the property itself carries the kind of institutional weight that young-chef openings cannot manufacture. Xabi handles the savoury side; his brother Patrice, named Leading Pastry Maker of France in 2019 and trained in kitchens from Paris to New York, controls the sweet end of the meal. The division of labour matters more than it sounds: the pastry course here is not an afterthought, and if you are booking a celebration dinner, that credential alone shifts the quality ceiling upward compared to restaurants where dessert is a generic closing act.
The kitchen draws from a list of Basque and South-West French ingredients that reads like a geography lesson in the region's leading produce: Adour salmon, Kintoa black pig, Pyrenean lamb, Ossau-Iraty cheese, Espelette pepper, and red fruit from Mendionde. The estate grows its own herbs, flowers, and citrus in a kitchen garden and greenhouse, which means the sourcing chain between garden and plate is genuinely short. For a special occasion dinner, that provenance story plays well as conversation, but more practically it signals a kitchen with real control over its ingredient quality rather than one relying on the same luxury-produce suppliers as every other €€€€ restaurant in France.
On the wine side, the location is the key context. Bidart sits at the intersection of the Atlantic Basque coast and the foothills that lead toward Navarra and Rioja, which means a serious wine list here should be doing something more interesting than a standard Bordeaux-heavy French fine dining card. The estate's dual French-Spanish cultural position creates the conditions for a list that moves comfortably between Txakoli, Irouléguy (the small Basque AOC less than 90 minutes away), and the broader South-West appellations alongside Burgundy and Bordeaux. For a wine-focused special occasion, this is an argument for choosing Ibarboure over a Paris address: the regional wine angle is harder to replicate in a city restaurant, and pairing local Irouléguy or a Spanish Rioja Gran Reserva against Kintoa pork or Pyrenean lamb is a more coherent experience than the standard prestige-Burgundy formula. Confirm the current list when booking, but the regional provenance logic of the food strongly suggests the wine programme follows the same philosophy.
The room closes Monday and Sunday, which is standard for a family-run property of this calibre in rural France and worth noting if you are planning a weekend trip to the Basque coast: Saturday service is available at both lunch and dinner, but if you are travelling specifically for this meal, plan around Tuesday through Saturday. Google reviewers rate it 4.8 from 1,173 reviews, a volume of feedback that provides more statistical confidence than a small sample of critic visits. At that rating and review count, consistent execution over time is a reasonable expectation rather than a lucky-night gamble.
For the broader Basque coast context, see our full Bidart restaurants guide, as well as guides to hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in Bidart. Nearby alternatives worth knowing before you commit: Ahizpak and Ezkia both operate in Bidart at lower price points if the occasion calls for something less formal. For destination fine dining benchmarks elsewhere in France, Mirazur in Menton and Flocons de Sel in Megève offer useful points of comparison for what a regionally anchored €€€€ restaurant can achieve at the very leading of its category. Ibarboure sits comfortably in that company without reaching their international profile, which is arguably what makes it the more interesting booking right now.
France's broader fine dining circuit includes long-established family properties with comparable generational depth: Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern, Troisgros in Ouches, and Bras in Laguiole are the obvious reference points for what a multi-generation family restaurant can look like at the highest level. Ibarboure is not yet in that tier by international recognition, but the OAD trajectory (improving rank, Prestige category) suggests it is building in the right direction. If you have already visited Paul Bocuse in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or or Assiette Champenoise in Reims, Ibarboure offers a meaningfully different regional register: Atlantic Basque rather than Lyonnais or Champenois, and more intimate in scale than either. For those who have explored further afield, AM par Alexandre Mazzia in Marseille shows what French regional fine dining looks like when a chef pushes into more experimental territory, a useful contrast if you are deciding how much creative risk you want in a celebration meal.
Reservations: Easy to book relative to its critical ranking; no evidence of multi-month waits. Book 2–3 weeks ahead for weekend evenings to be safe. Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, lunch 12:15–14:00, dinner 19:30–21:30; closed Monday and Sunday. Price: €€€€ — budget for a full fine dining spend including wine. Dress: Smart casual to smart; no formal dress code confirmed but the price tier and occasion context call for effort. Address: 281 Chemin Ttalienea, 64210 Bidart, France. Getting there: Bidart is on the TGV-served Biarritz-Bayonne corridor; the nearest major station is Biarritz, approximately 5km away. A car or taxi is the practical option from the station.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Table des Frères Ibarboure | €€€€ | Easy | — |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Kei | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| L'Ambroisie | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Mirazur | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
The closest direct peer in the region is Mirazur in Menton, though that is a significantly harder reservation and a step up in both price and ceremony. Within the Basque Country itself, options at this price point are limited, which is part of what makes Les Frères Ibarboure the default choice for a serious meal near Bidart. If you want comparable family-driven produce focus with less formality, local bistros in Biarritz fill that gap at a lower price tier.
Yes, if seasonal Basque produce is your reason for coming. The kitchen draws directly on local ingredients including Kintoa black pig, Adour salmon, Espelette pepper, and Pyrenean lamb, plus herbs and citrus from their own garden. Patrice Ibarboure, named Best Pastry Maker of France in 2019, means the dessert course alone justifies the €€€€ spend for most guests. If you are after a shorter, less structured meal, the lunch service offers the same kitchen at a potentially more manageable format.
Book 2–3 weeks ahead for weekend evenings; weekday lunch slots are more available and often bookable closer to your date. There is no evidence of the multi-month waits you encounter at comparable OAD-ranked restaurants, which makes this a relative bright spot for planning a Basque Country trip. Still, do not leave it to the week before during summer peak season.
This is a family property in its third generation, set in Bidart in the French Basque Country, and the experience reflects that: grounded, produce-led, and without the performance anxiety of a big-city prestige room. The kitchen is run by brothers Xabi and Patrice Ibarboure, and the menu is built around what the estate's garden and the surrounding region produce seasonally. At €€€€ pricing, come expecting a serious meal rather than a casual evening, but the setting is a country property rather than a formal city dining room.
Lunch is the practical choice for first-timers: service runs 12:15–14:00 Tuesday through Saturday, it is easier to book, and the Basque Country daylight means you get the property's setting at its best. Dinner runs 19:30–21:30 on the same days and suits a slower, occasion-led evening. Neither sitting offers a meaningfully different menu, so the decision comes down to your schedule rather than what is on the plate.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
