The Lot Valley offers some of the most reasonably priced restaurants to be found in France.

And don’t forget the local wines and vineyards – Duras/Bergerac, Buzet, and Cahors (a fine and complex dark red wine much appreciated by the French since mediaeval times) – visit the Chateaux and taste them before you buy. 

See below our guide to local food and drink.

EATING & FOOD

The area is largely agricultural and the cafes used by the locals on a day to day basis offer large portions of local produce, as well as the typical French snacks of omlettes, croque monsieur etc, relatively inexpensively. Local produce includes duck, good soups, garlic, walnut, truffles, wild mushrooms, an abundance of vegetables, foie gras, confits, stews (cassoulets), wild boar (sanglier), deer, chicken fed on maize and corn and lamb roasts and casseroles. There is also a wide range of fish, cured hams and sausages as well as a wide variety of cheeses such as Cantal, soft goat cheeses (cabécous) and the hard mountain cheeses as well as a wide choice of all the famous French varieties. Followed of course by good fruit tarts, plum and apple pastries and cakes.

Foie Gras (duck liver made into a patè) and duck form the basis of many local traditional dishes. Rillettes (potted pork, goose or rabbit meat with bread), Bayonne ham direct from the farm.

This area has become increasingly popular with the British and other nationalities and today there is a wide selection of restaurants from the Michelin starred to the exotic.

In common with most areas of France, there is a huge variety of local wines. Many are Appelation Controlled but there are also a large number of Vin du Pays wines available from local producers. Red wine is predominant but white and Rose are becoming increasingly available locally.

World renowned Bordeaux, Cahors (the deep red wine loved in the past by the Czars of Russia and now making a strong comeback having lived for many years in the shadow of Bordeaux), Duras, Buzet, Bergerac, Madrian are wines are made in small quantities and the Armagnac brandies are produced in the area between Auch and Condom. Floc is a brandy-based wine and a very local aperitif. Visit the Chateaux and taste them before you buy. Wines from the producers are relatively inexpensive.

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