Where to Eat in Nantes: Your Ultimate Foodie Guide

Imagine a French person. What do they look like?

Striped shirts, berets, maybe riding a bicycle with a baguette in the front basket? If you’re going off the stereotypes, then you’re picturing someone from Brittany.

The image of the Breton farmer and fisherman is the go-to reference for all of France, but Brittany itself is as unique as any other part of the country!

This small chunk of northwestern France is the perfect place to visit on a foodie getaway. Nantes is the cultural capital of Brittany (not the political capital, for some confusing French reason), and is home to some of the best eats in the region.

Get the most out of your time in town, with my ultimate foodie guide to where to eat in Nantes!

Where to Eat in Nantes

You’re in France, so one thing is for sure. Everywhere you look there’s delicious food to be found!

Nantes is famous for its produce. This part of the Loire Valley is well-known in Paris’ bistros, where diners feast on Nantais seafood, vegetables, and Muscadet wine.

So where should you start?

The Best Breakfast in Nantes

Fresh croissant straight from the oven, all flaky, buttery and golden brown… French breakfasts are a religious experience for me.

So when I got there, finding out where to eat breakfast in Nantes was at the top of my to-do list. I chomped down on so many croissants and pains au chocolat I lost count! And just as I thought there was no room left, I realised I’d only scratched the surface of Nantes’ breakfast options.

Best Boulangeries in Nantes

If you’re also a member of the croissant cult, I have some tips for you. Croissants, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin, Nantes is home to an ungodbly number of calorific boulangerie options. Crispy and buttery pastries can be yours at:

• La Boulangerie d’Honoré (12 Avenue Carnot).
• Borea (Rue Léon Maître).
• La Petite Boulangerie (1 Place Saint-Félix).
• La Boulangerie Du P’tit Port (89 Boulevard Gabriel Lauriol).

Where to Eat Brunch in Nantes

Maybe you’re one of those weird people who doesn’t want to have a pastry for breakfast every day. I don’t get it, but there are some other options for starting your day in Nantes.

Nantes is a cosmopolitan city, and their food scene embraces traditional local produce as well as international trends. Here are some great spots for a leisurely late breakfast or bougie brunch!

• Le Louis Blanc (2 Rue Louis Blanc).
• Sugar Blue (4 Rue de l’Arche Sèche).

Coffee in Nantes

I’ve had some pretty bad coffee in France.

Like, so bad you wonder why anyone would ever get hooked on coffee in the first place. So bad that you’d rather drink tea instead. So bad that when you dip your croissant in espresso you can hear the pastry sob.

Which means that I’m always on the lookout for good coffee, and surprised when I find it! Here are the best places to get your caffeine fix in Nantes:

• Esperance Café (25 Quai François Mitterrand).
• GLAZ (10 Rue Cacault).
• Columbus Café & Co (5 Square Fleuriot de l’Angle).

Typical Foods in Nantes

Like all of the French regions, Brittany is home to its own special cuisine. There are some must-try foods in Nantes, so start cracking on that bucket list!

Ah, Crêpe…

Crêpes aren’t just calories in Brittany, they’re a source of local pride! The humble crêpe originated here more than 9,000 years ago, which seems like enough time to perfect the recipe.

Just remember: not all pancakes are called crêpes. If it’s savoury, locals will call it a galette. These bad boys are made with buckwheat flavour, first brought to France by knights returning from the Crusades. There are so many ways to eat a galette: with the soft funky local cheese (curé nantais), cured duck, vegetables, ham… If it exists, the French put it in a crêpe.

And sweet or savoury, the best pairing for a crêpe is Breton cider! In both sweet and dry forms, this sparkling apple delight really goes down well alongside a galette.

Crêperies sell both sweet and savoury delights, all throughout the day. Here are my favourite spots:

• Crêperie Fleur de Sel (3 Rue de Baclerie)
• Crêperie Mam’zelle Breizh (4 Rue de Chapeau Rouge)
• Le Coin des Crepes (2 Rue Armand Brossard)
• Crêperie Heb Ken (5 Rue de Guérande).

Seafood in Nantes

The Atlantic coast doesn’t just give Nantes a bipolar climate (seriously, how do you dress to go out here?). This city is full of seafood!

From gigantic clams and oysters do fresh wild fish, Nantes is made for seafood lovers. You’ll get it served in a variety of ways, but the most emblematic recipe is the beurre blanc.

A creamy sauce of butter, lemon, white wine, and shallots… why would you ever serve fish in anything else? It’s also the perfect accompaniment to Nantes’ local wine, Muscadet. (More on this enamel-cutting white wine below).

Gâteau nantais

How do you tell pastries apart? There are so many to choose from in France, it’s hard to know which ones to eat and when.

Luckily, Nantes has a solution. They soak one of their cakes in rum, so you know it’s only an option later in the day. This is the gâteau nantais: part local pride, part heart attack waiting to happen.

You make it with ground almonds mixed with sugar and rum, baked to a moist perfection. It harkens back to the time when Nantes was the French trade capital, and rum flowed freely thanks to the former colonies in Latin America.

You can get them at any good boulangerie or pâtisserie in town.

Best Restaurants in Nantes

So where can you eat these classics in Nantes? In a city that loves food this much, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are more restaurants here than you could ever hope to eat at in one trip!

The secret to Brittany’s delicious cuisine is its diversity. From classic French dishes to modern inventions and more, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into. If you’re wondering where to eat in Nantes, you can’t go wrong with these:

• La Cigale (4 Place Graslin). This belle epoque brasserie is known as one of the most beautiful in France. Try classic dishes like fish in beurre blanc and enjoy the stunning decor! Reservation is a must.
• Pickles (2 Rue du Marais). Chef Dominic Quirke serves French classics with Asian touches in this cool modern bistro. Reservation recommended.
• Roza (3 Place de la Monnaie). Inventive and sophisticated French cuisine prepared by one of the country’s top young chefs. Reservation recommended.
• L’Atlantide 1874 (5 Rue de l’Hermitage). Michelin-starred L’Atlantide 1874 is one of Nantes’ most revered foodie institutions. This is a must if you’re looking for the true taste of haute cuisine. Reservation is a must.
• Le Lieu Unique (2 Rue de la Biscuiterie). Attached to Nantes’ most unique modern art installation, this restaurant offers classic local cuisine at moderate prices.
• L’Aménité (4 Rue Fénelon). The food here is rooted in Nantes traditions, but comes packed with inventive flair.

Muscadet: The Wine You Want to Know

When in Nantes, drink Muscadet.

This local wine is the perfect pairing to the city’s food (as they say, what grows together goes together). A white wine for people who don’t like white wine, Muscadet is made with the fairly unknown melon de Bourgogne grape.

Wine lovers devour Muscadet by the bottle, going nuts for its lean and racy acidity, tantalising minerality, and crunchy salinity. The perfect pairing? A big plate of fresh shellfish from the coast, or a chunk of local curé Nantais cheese.

Seek out bottles labelled as sur lie. These wines have spent time ageing on ‘lees’, the dead yeast cells leftover from fermentation. (It’s not as weird as it sounds). The resulting wines have an almost creamy texture and complex, nutty flavour.

The Best Wine Bars in Nantes

Now you know the wines to try, where should you go to drink them?

• La Comédie des Vins (4 Rue Suffren). Classic bistro vibes and a cheese plate sent by the gods.
• Vacarme (5 Rue des Bons Français). Dig natural wines? Get your freak on at this great wine bar with a snacks menu to match.
• L’Antidote (15 Rue Racine). Locally-produced wines and beers in a trendy and relaxed setting.

Read More

Doing research for an upcoming trip? Check out my other local foodie guides right here. And if you’re down a rabbit hole of French food learning, check out these weird baguette facts that might just make your day!

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