As I dip my spoon into a chocolate and Amarena cherry souffle — piercing the bubble-light sponge to find succulent cherries hiding at the bottom — Ithank my lucky stars I’m getting to enjoy a dessert course here in France’s chocolate capital. This souffle, at La Table de Sébastien Gravé, is so good I almost burn my mouth trying to eat it too quickly.
For a devout chocoholic like me, this treat would have been more than enough to sate my appetite for Bayonne’s signature product, but in truth the town has plenty more than its sweet moniker would suggest: there’s charcuterie; the punchy Piment d’Espelette chilli; and fresh fish from the nearby port at Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Over my three-course lunch at Sébastien’s restaurant, next to the River Nive, I enjoy some of this bounty, including smoked idiazabal (a sheep-milk cheese) and barbecued pork loin, before finishing with that alluring soufflé. “We have everything here, in terms of good food,” says chef Sébastien when we talk after lunch. “We have the mountains, the sea and
