Blue Cat spent a week in Toulouse, France this month to meet his colleagues from the French office of his company. While the meetings were great and the traveling was interesting, one of the real pleasures of the trip was the food. Blue Cat is not sure if you can get a bad meal in Toulouse (even the McDonald’s there is better than those in the United Status), his experience this time was, as usual, really good.
Blue Cat got in late on a Sunday, so many of the places he could have eaten near his hotel were closed. However, there were several places in the Place St Georges that were recommended by the desk clerk, and Blue Cat ended up at the Ligot there. He had a nice table on the patio where he could see all the people going by (and some cars/motorcycles/scooters/bikes/baby carriages as well).
You’d think Blue Cat would get something very French for his first meal, but after a day traveling he just wanted something familiar. So he had a hamburger. But this is France, so he had a Burger Roquefort, which had both cheese and a sauce and was wonderful.
You might notice the side dish – something that looks like mashed potatoes. They are mashed potatoes – but with a definite French twist. They’re actually aligot, which is a blend of mashed potatoes and cheese. A specialty at Light, they’re like fondue, and there were very, very good. They’re served direct from a pot to your plate so they’re really hot (good since they get thicker as they cool).
With that fine meal and a good night’s sleep Blue Cat was almost ready for his first day at work. What was missing? Le petit-dejeuner also known as breakfast. The hotel has a great buffet of typical European breakfast foods (cheese, sliced meat, bread, more bread, hard-boiled eggs, fruit and associated yogurts) so Blue Cat got a few things for a balanced breakfast.
It was a great start to every morning.
Lunches that week were with team members and Blue Cat didn’t want to be the total tourist by taking pictures of his food in public, so those meals are a bit of a blur. Blue Cat ate food from the Marche Victor-Hugo (a huge market where you can get fresh anything and prepared meals), had a meal at the Hope! Restaurant Toulouse (great pasta and salads), and got a great falafel sandwich from La Mie Caline (a little bakery). All good food shared with good friends.
Dinner was another kind of story. Blue Cat ended up working 11 hour days and was so tired that all he wanted to do was go back to the hotel and collapse. So he got “to go” food from a couple of place (still no McDonald’s though) so he could have a quick but good meal.
The first place was GOMU Toulouse, a place that offers “a unique experience by fusing Asian and American street food” – Asian bao and American burgers.
It was really good. And yes, that’s a piece of pecan pie for dessert.
Blue Cat also likes Poke, and he found two place that could put together a great bowl. His favorite was Pokawa, which for some reason he doesn’t have a picture of the food he got there. He was probably so hungry and tired that he just ate and fell asleep. Here’s a picture of their bag though…
On his final night Blue Cat went for something very different – he stopped at Fresh Burritos Foodtrip Mexicain. Burritos in France? Well, it wasn’t what Blue Cat would consider authentic Mexican food, but it was very good nonetheless.
The chips and pico de gallo was especially good even if the chips were more baked than fried. And he made a custom burrito bowl with just the stuff he likes.
Overall it was another wonderful eating experience in France – and the folks at the restaurants were very friendly, super helpful, and even spoke English when Blue Cat’s French wasn’t up to the task. He’s looking forward to his next French eating adventure!
Where are your favorite eating places in Toulouse (or your home town)? Let us know in the comments section below. Bon appetit!
(Blue Cat apologizes for not having all the right accents in the French words above – he’s still relatively new at blogging using the WordPress site and has much to learn)
© William P Doyle Jr, 2024
Blue Cat's View 
One thought on “Traveling wtih Blue Cat: Eating in Toulouse”