Food & drink · Besançon

Brasserie du Commerce, Rue des Granges

Bisontins have been pulling up a chair at the Brasserie du Commerce on Rue des Granges since 1873, and the room — all burnished wood, brass fittings and the comfortable hum of a genuinely local crowd — makes it immediately clear why. This is the place to eat the Franche-Comté dishes that are genuinely hard to find outside the region: chicken in vin jaune with morel mushrooms, beef tartare and the

Brasserie du Commerce, Rue des Granges
Photo by Ismael Campos Carrillo on Pexels

The dishes you must order

The anchor of the menu is the regional chicken in vin jaune and morille mushrooms — a rich, deeply savoury dish that showcases the Jura's most prized wine alongside the forest mushrooms that grow in the hills above the city. The Franc-comtoise salad and beef tartare are equally reliable anchors for a satisfying lunch.

Save room for the café gourmand — a curated selection of the kitchen's best dessert petits fours served alongside your coffee or tea. It is the kind of unhurried, generous finale that reminds you why French brasserie culture endures.

Brasserie du Commerce, Rue des Granges
Photo by Talha Resitoglu

The wider food scene around it

The Brasserie sits on Rue des Granges, one of the most handsome streets in the old town, lined with 18th-century mansions and within easy walking distance of Place de la Révolution. After lunch, wander to Doubs Direct at 6 Rue Pasteur — a well-stocked regional deli selling Comté in multiple ages, Morteau sausage, Jura wines, cancoillotte and local chocolates, ideal for edible souvenirs.

For a more casual evening by the river, bistro terraces along the Quai Vauban in the Battant neighbourhood offer people-watching over the Doubs alongside flammekueche and regional charcuterie boards. The city's compact centre means you are never more than a ten-minute walk from the next good meal.

Brasserie du Commerce, Rue des Granges
Photo by Magda Ehlers
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