Our room was small, but the hotel was charming and although we were just passing through, we noted that the swimming pool, access to hiking trails that began in the town and a Michelin starred kitchen make this a choice spot in which to spend a few days. We were looking for good Basque cuisine more interesting than the poulet basquaise found in bistrots all over France. We found it in Maurice Isabal's delicious plate of stuffed red peppers and his cassoulet basquaise. The famous and moderately hot local red peppers, piments d'Espelette, are stuffed with cod fish puree and served in a rich pool of reduced stock studded with minced ham. Basque boudin noir is highly spiced and more akin to those of Martinique than to the typical boudin noir found in French charcuteries.
Basque cuisine is the spiciest of French regional cuisines.
We we saw red peppers hanging and drying everywhere in the village of Espelette, and we purchased small bottles of a local Sauce Piquant, similar to Louisiana hot sauce, as a practical souvenir. Biarritz and Bayonne Biarritz may be an international resort rather than a Basque fishing village, but Bayonne, it's picturesque neighbor, retains its small town character. The old town, with its narrow streets, half timbered houses and markets along the quays of the Nive, seems far removed in time and distance from the glitter of Biarritz. Bayonne and Biarritz share a taste for sweets, with branches of many of the same confiseries in both cities. We did our best to sample from Darantz, Cazenave and Henriot, but we didn't have time to try the others.