Lille, France
Lille’s 5 best restaurants (and must-try dishes)
The guide to Lille’s best restaurants
Lille, located in the rolling landscapes of Hauts-de-France in northern France, fuses centuries-old culinary customs with fearless experimentation. In Lille, you’ll find family-run spots serving age-old stews right alongside cosy bistros where farm-fresh beets are served alongside smoked eel and tangy maroilles cheese finds new life in feather-light gratins. The beauty of eating here is in the contrast – rustic and refined, playful and deeply rooted. In this guide, we highlight our favourite restaurants in Lille that not only serve incredible food but also tell a story through their menus, their spaces and the people behind them. These are the restaurants and dishes you’ll want to plan your day – and maybe your trip – around.
Top photography courtesy of Suzanne
01
Suzanne
In 2022, Lucas Tricot and his partner, pastry chef Elisa Rodriguez, swapped separate careers for a joint leap into entrepreneurship, opening Suzanne in a former art-deco bookshop on Place Philippe Lebon. Trained respectively at Les Oiseaux and under top pastry mentors, they serve two tasting menus – a five-course menu and a seven-course menu – rotating monthly to showcase fresh local produce. Must-try dishes include the smoked eel and verjus (sour juice made from unripe grapes) over toasted bread pudding and the porcini-mushroom ice cream inspired by Élisa’s grandmother, Suzanne. The dining room feels quietly modern with white marble accents, light wood furnishings and simple crockery set against soft neutrals, letting the food’s colours pop.
Suzanne
4 Pl. Philippe Lebon
Lille
France
Photography courtesy of Suzanne
02
Bloempot
Florent Ladeyn, a former Top Chef finalist, runs Bloempot as a Flemish canteen in a former carpentry workshop. The space retains its industrial bones – exposed brick, recycled timber tables and brushed-steel accents – balanced by cosy lighting and communal seating that invites conversation. Here, there’s no à la carte – just an eyes-closed tasting menu or a weekday midday menu that leans entirely on Höeche farmers, foragers and small-scale fishermen within 50 kilometres. Expect playful riffs on carbonade flamande (Flemish beef and onion stew made with beer), a celery-and-seafood taco or tender rabbit glazed in local ale, often accompanied by wild-flower gelée (jelly) ladled tableside. Florent Ladeyn recommends a beer or natural wine pairing to go with your food and those metal stools around the communal tables guarantee you’ll trade notes with strangers over each course.
Bloempot
110 Quai Géry Legrand
Lille
France
Photography courtesy of Bloempot
03
La Table
Set within an 18th-century private mansion converted into the Clarance Hotel, La Table buzzed to life under Alexandre Miquel in February 2023 – and scored a Michelin star by summer. The dining rooms showcase plush chairs, hand-stitched leather booths, parquet floors and a smattering of original crown moldings – reminding you of the building’s past life – but moody lighting and a pale-stone bar leave it feeling freshly modern. Miquel’s seasonal set menus spotlight small-boat-caught scallops in fermented black radish carpaccio and locally reared saddle of lamb braised in a terrine-style casserole, all toasting the finest regional ingredients. Sommeliers pour obscure Loire whites and biodynamic reds, each introduced with backstories that align with the dishes’ provenance.
La Table
Clarance Hotel
32 Rue de la Barre
Lille
France
Photography courtesy of La Table
04
Pulpe
Pulpe grew from a chance meeting at L’Astrance. In May 2024, sous-chef turned head cook Clémence Taillandier and former pastry-passionate-turned-sommelier Philippe Platel pooled their savings to open a 28-seat bistro just off Place du Concert. The compact dining room features olive-green banquettes, bright mosaic floor tiles and raw-wood tables, while the open kitchen’s copper hood hisses and steams nearby. The seasonally driven menu highlights shared starters like octopus carpaccio dressed with Kalamata virgin olive oil and mains such as hay-smoked pollack with green asparagus and beurre blanc (French butter sauce made with vinegar or white wine and shallots) – each plate reflecting Taillandier’s precision and Platel’s wine-centric values. Don’t miss out on the strawberry tart with verbena ice cream for dessert.
Pulpe
7 Rue Saint-André
Lille
France
Photography courtesy of Pulpe
05
Le Restaurant du Cerisier
At Avenue du Peuple Belge, Mathieu Boutroy runs a one-star show with an open kitchen that feels like joining a dinner party where you actually help out. Boutroy, whose résumé includes La Meurin and Rozó, joined Le Restaurant du Cerisier in 2021. The restaurant occupies a sleek contemporary building – its first-floor open kitchen sits beneath clean lines of glass and steel, offering theatre-style views of the culinary team at work. Interiors blend muted greys with subtle brass fixtures and warm wood accents. Upstairs, you’ll find private salons and on sunny days you can slip out to the intimate terrace. The single tasting menu spans three tiers – Privilège, Découverte and Quintessence – with dishes like langoustine with cabbage, buckwheat and watercress, morels in yellow wine with tarragon and Quercy duck with beetroot jus.
Le Restaurant du Cerisier
14 Av. du Peuple Belge premier étage
Lille
France
Photography courtesy of Le Restaurant du Cerisier
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