This Mustard-Forward Town Is a Mini Paris, Minus the Crowds
Most of the world thinks of Dijon as merely a mustard, but it's actually a pretty nice town in France's wine country, too.
To Americans, Dijon is perhaps best known as a word for mustard, not a place. Yet Dijon, France, a city just an hour and a half train ride from Paris in one of the world’s most famous wine regions, is a magical small city with so much more to offer than its mustard—though there’s lots of that, too. Both the official capital of Burgundy and unofficial capital of mustard, Dijon retains an improbable quietness, even as it grows into a French culinary capital to be reckoned with. Not yet overrun with tourists despite its density of historical attractions, Dijon feels a bit like a secret mini Paris without the crowds, situated in a span of picturesque eastern Burgundy that includes another lively mustard town, Beaune.
The legacy of Dijon mustard, that intoxicatingly spicy mixture of brown mustard seeds and white wine, dates back to the 13th century. (The French word “moutarde” is said to come from a phrase used by Burgundy dukes, “moult me tarde,” meaning “many await me.”) While in 1870 there were 40 mustard manufacturers in Dijon, today there are just four, the most famous of which is the Edmond Fallot boutique.
Mustard tourists should take the bus deeper into wine country to nearby Beaune, where Fallot’s moutarderie, or mustard factory, is located. The quaint operation hosts tastings, tours, and a gift shop that nearly inspired me to buy a new suitcase to accommodate all the sizes and flavors of Fallot mustard jars, from green pepper to thyme, all of which are made exclusively from local mustard seeds. A tasting area held a ring of mustard barrels with pumps, as visitors pushed different flavors onto mini wooden spoons. Far from the overly sweet, mayonnaise-laden version you find in America, the Fallot honey mustard is really just honey and mustard that was bracing enough to bring a tear to my eye. A few paces from the Fallot factory, my eyes welled with water again, but this time because I sat before a fragrant platter of beef bourguignon and crispy fried potatoes at Café de France Les Routiers, a family-style restaurant filled mostly with local workers on their lunch breaks. The meal came with a giant salad of fresh lettuce, crispy lardons, and a rich, spicy mustard dressing.
But the Dijon area’s draw has grown much bigger than mustard and the world-renowned vineyards that surround it. The city of Dijon itself can feel like a hidden secret, with its magnificent free-entry Musée des Beaux-Arts housed in a 15th century ducal palace, regional cooking that boasts hits like boeuf bourguignon and escargots, and a shiny new culinary complex called Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie et du Vin, which houses six restaurants and bars, rotating exhibits, a food court, a wine school, and a culinary school, among other attractions. Dijon’s UNESCO-protected, pedestrianized center is lined with medieval, gothic, and Romanesque architecture reflecting the city’s millennia of cultural import, while the Cité Internationale’s opening in 2022 solidified its status as a French gastronomy capital. (Not that Dijon was inconnu on the culinary front: Its International Food Fair, one of the largest food festivals in France, has been a fixture for over a century.)
“This is a small Paris with a hundred churches and a fantastic, authentic historical center. It’s a town with human size,” says Florian Garcenot, a lifelong Burgundian who was born in Dijon. He founded the local bike tour company Active Tours Bourgogne Evasion in 2017 and has observed the city and surrounding area’s’s growing tourist presence over the past few years. “We feel the evolution,” he says, pointing to the center’s renovation, ever-growing interest in the Burgundy wine region, and its UNESCO status.
On an April afternoon, I strolled from the Dijon train station through the lush botanical gardens, following a shaded trail that led to the gastronomy center. (I can’t think of another time I’ve stepped out of a train station and been surrounded by gardens.) At lunchtime on a Friday, the Cité Internationale’s casual, wine-oriented Le Comptoir de la Cité was buzzing with life, nearly every table topped with a sampler plate of regional delicacies, including brioche swirled with garlicky snail, fluffy gougeres, and pâté en croûte. The restaurant, helmed by culinary director Éric Pras (who earned three Michelin stars at Lameloise, located in nearby Chagny, Saône-et-Loire), also serves plates of la cuisine bourguignonne, like tripe sausage in mustard sauce and beef stew. Later that night, I grabbed a cocktail at Monsieur Moutarde (“Mr. Mustard”), an exceedingly hip craft cocktail bar proving that wine isn’t the only game in town.
Both Beaune and Dijon – two cities bound by mustard – are cooler than they have any right to be, and tourists are catching on. Garcenot’s tour company is based in Beaune, which he feels has always been a bit more popular than Dijon for Americans, who own many of the area’s hotels and wineries. But the city is finally hitting travelers’ radars. “Burgundy is an exclusive destination, so there isn’t massive tourism,” he says. But the region has everything a traveler would want: “We have nice people with a good sense of life,” he says. “In French we use the word ‘epicurien.’ We love food, wine, and sharing.’”
Garcenot’s tour company is based in Beaune, which he feels has always been a bit more popular for Americans, who own many of the area’s hotels and wineries. Tourist-wise, Dijon is starting to catch up. “Burgundy is an exclusive destination, so there isn’t massive tourism,” he says. But the region has everything a traveler would want: “We have nice people with a good sense of life,” he says. “In French we use the word ‘epicurien.’ We love food, wine, and sharing.’”
Even locals who’ve spent time abroad or elsewhere in France are moving back to this magic part of Burgundy. Séverine Pétilaire-Bellet, who owns Hostellerie de Levernois and Château Sainte Sabine, returned to the Beaune area after three decades away. “I can appreciate the tremendous growth that the Dijon-Burgundy region has undergone,” she says. “I can measure it all the more because I've been lucky enough to travel the world several times a year since 2021.”
On my short trip, I met a number of people in their twenties and thirties who had returned to Burgundy after spending time abroad or in Paris, often to work in wine or hospitality. I, too, fell in love with the pace of life here—slow, but no less textured for it. While wandering the outskirts of Dijon, I stumbled upon Restaurant de l'île de La Réunion, a small Réunionaise eatery run by an older couple who had immigrated from the small island in the Indian Ocean. I sat down and the small, charismatic woman owner told me there was no menu. “Have you ever had Réunionaise food before?” she asked. “No,” I said. “Can you tolerate spice?” she asked. “Yes,” I said, wondering what incidents led her to run through these questions like my Miranda Rights. Over the course of the next hour, she brought out the best meal I had in Dijon: flaky cheese-filled samosas, spicy curried chicken over rice and lentils, and a plate of rich coconut pie and coconut ice cream. The whole thing was less than thirty euros. The few morsels I didn’t finish, she carefully loaded into a glass jar to send me on my way.
Exploring Dijon and Beaune
Where to Eat
Le Comptoir de la Cité
Charming wine bar and bistro with regional dishes and charcuterie, located inside the Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie et du Vin
12 Parvis de l'Unesco, 21000 Dijon, France
Restaurant L'Ile de la Réunion
Cozy family-run restaurant with no menu and no website serving dishes from L'Ile de la Réunion
6 Rue Jean Renoir, 21000 Dijon, France
Le Chat Qui Pense
Incredibly charming bistro with inventive, elegant menus featuring “bistronomique” dishes
18 Rue Monge, 21000 Dijon, France
CIBO
Immaculate Haute French cuisine from one of France’s youngest-ever Michelin-starred chefs Angelo Ferrigno
24 Rue Jeannin, 21000 Dijon, France
Café de France Les Routiers
Cozy family-style restaurant with no website but daily changing set lunches
13 Rue du Faubourg Bretonnière, 21200 Beaune, France
Bistrot du Bord de l'Eau
Rustic 1750 dining room on the outskirts of Beaune serving traditional regional cuisine and a legendary île flottante
15 Rue du Golf, 21200 Levernois, France
Where to Drink
Monsieur Moutarde
Creative if pricey cocktail bar at the forefront of Dijon’s craft cocktail movement
40 rue des Forges, 21000, Dijon France
La Cave Se Rebiffe
Adorable, unpretentious wine bar spotlighting natural winegrowers
57 Rue Vannerie, 21000, Dijon France
L'Arche Des Vins
Exceptional cellar and wine bar featuring Burgundy wines
3 Rue Poterne, 21200 Beaune, France
Where to Stay
Hôtel du Palais Dijon
Comfortable, very lovely 3-star hotel in the center that graciously let me check in at 9:00am after I woke up covered in ants at my Airbnb
23 Rue du Palais, 21000 Dijon, France
Hostellerie de Levernois
Romantic splurge with dreamy pool, gardens, and an elegant Michelin-starred restaurant just a few minutes drive from the center of Beaune
Rue du Golf, 21200 Levernois, France