(, 5 Rue Saint Joseph in Lille, France)

Au Bout des Doigts(At your fingertips)in the heart of Old Lille is all about surprise. The dining r...oom is set in an old piano warehouse where the space gives play to the asymmetrical furniture and the invigorating colours. The menu concept all challenge your assumptions. Here’s the nub: Au Bout des Doigts serves every complete meal without knives, forks or spoons. You choose plates of meat, fish or a combination, veg, dessert and chef Fabrice Vermuse creates combinations of flavours to delight the palate, combinations of familiar flavours and more unusual ingredients. Eight to twelve bites make a meal and the whole table can share in the feast. This is a concept that works terrifically well with groups of friends, but also very well with working lunches or dinners as there’s no service interruption every five minutes. Eat, brainstorm, enjoy. And yes, there are fountains where you wash your hands. Groups of any size up to the hire of the entire restaurant, accommodating 180, are most welcome. Every first Wednesday there are musical evenings where you can discover local artistes. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Please note that on Saturdays there are two sittings at 7:30pm and 10pm Opening hours: Mon 7:30pm - 10:30pm Tue - Fri 12pm - 2pm & 7:30pm - 10:30pm Sat 7:30pm – 11pm Sun: closed all day [moreless]

(16 Rue de Pas in Lille, France)

Restaurant Clément Marot in the touristic centre of Lille has history and style galore. The warm, r...ustic/modern dining room features peached paneling, antler chandeliers, wooden beams, and smart curving banquettes at circular tables. Chef Francois Vandeweghe uses the finest local and seasonal produce to create traditional dishes according to his mood – and remember that Lille is as much Flemish as French. The menu might include snail and tomato puff pastry tart with parsley sauce, veal kidneys with mustard and lemon sauce, and a marvelous rhubarb crumble with liquorice ice cream, followed by truly superb coffee. More than 250 wines await you in the cellar. For private dining, there are three rooms adaptable for banqueting, meetings or presentations. The elegant Chicoree Room seats up to 36 diners. The La Porte Room, with its grand, antique fireplace, private courtyard and cream walls, is superb for art exhibitions and cocktail parties. The Upper Room on the first floor seats up to 25. Get the full joie de vivre of Clément Marot – book a cookery lesson (in French) either privately or for your corporate group of 14 to 24, including apron, jacket and chef’s hat with the company logo and certificates of achievement. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Clément Marot organises cooking classes - please see details under the menu section. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 12pm - 2:30pm & 7pm - 10:30pm Sun: 12pm - 2:30pm [moreless]

(10 Rue de Pas in Lille, France)

L’Ecume des Mers in Lille lies near the Grand’ Place, just ten minutes’ walk from both train station...s – and it’s open every single day of the year, even in August, so you are always assured of a warm welcome and fantastic seafood. L’Ecume des Mers (it means ‘sea foam’) is the younger sister of longtime favourite l’Huitriere. The smart marine bleu and white front leads into an elegant mezzanined dining space in cool shades of blues, greys and creams with soaring ceiling and tables arranged around a central bar. The menu, under the care of chef Christian Leroy, depends on the catch of the day, but usually includes oysters, fruits de mers and all manner of wild fish (only salmon is farmed) in dishes like skate in black butter. There are land-based dishes, too, and ten menus available for larger parties. Groups have the benefit of the upstairs Petit Salon seating up to 12, the Library seating up to 60, or the main dining room seating up to 100. A covered terrace comes into its own in the warm months. The intelligent wine list features a wine of the month available by the glass, pichet or bottle. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 12pm - 2:30pm & 7pm - 11pm Sun 12pm - 2:30 [moreless]

(60 Rue St Etienne in Lille, France)

Le Coquille restaurant in Vieux Lille just a few short steps from the Grand’ Place and the Nouveau S...iecle gives you rather a huge hint in its name: this is absolutely the place in Lille for shellfish and seafood in all its glory. Set in a lovely 18th century house of exposed antique bricks and beams and fitted with typical northern rustic furniture, Le Coquille is one of the most welcoming restaurants in town. Dany and Olivier Deleval employ the freshest seasonal ingredients from local markets and seem to make everything that arrives at the table themselves. Even the bread is baked in-house. Dishes include salmon cru with olive oil on a roquette nest, red mullet on al dente vegetables with rice and ginger confit, and chocolate millefeuille with cherry Kriek jam. The formule menus including wine are superb value. The ground floor seats 60 and the first floor dining room, superb for private events, seats up to 25. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Tue - Sat 12pm - 2pm Mon - Sat 7pm - 10pm Sun : closed all day [moreless]

(10 Rue de L'Arc in Lille, France)

La Tête de l’Art restaurant in the very core of Vieux Lille is a gregarious family affair. Jean-Luc... Pétiau welcomes you into the pleasing pink house decorated in charming bourgeois style with pale paneled walls, parquet floors, farmhouse chairs or modern seating, fresh flowers, and modern art. It is a romantic restaurant, with food that seduces. Jean-Luc’s son Gregory is in the kitchen creating traditional cuisine that is regional, rustic, inventive and modern. Yes, all that. Like scallops and salmon marinated in fleur de sel on a mousseline of celery rave, roasted lamb brochette in sauce diable, roasted pineapple au rum. The two and three course menus include wines to accompany the meal in the French style. The service and ambience are notably warm and welcoming. La Tête de l’Art would be a superb choice for dinner a deux or for a meal before taking in a performance of Lille’s symphony at the Nouveau Siecle. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. A credit card is required for bookings a table, absolutely no money will be charged to your card, this is just to secure the booking.The last available time-slot for lunch is 1pm. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 12pm - 1pm Wed - Sat 7:30pm - 10:30pm Sun: closed all day [moreless]

(86 Rue de Gand in Lille, France)

Le 86 restaurant in Lille’s restaurant central – rue de Gand – is a fabulous mélange of baroque and ...modern, tradition and innovation. The dining room features antique mirrors, Italian chandeliers, plum-coloured leather banquettes and contemporary seating, purple drapes and stippled walls hung with 21st century art. It’s a smart, funky space for business or romance. The menu’s vibrancy draws from regional culinary traditions and the chef’s own creativity: scrambled eggs on toast with smoked duck breast starter, main course of tropical filet of sole with beetroot crème, dessert of roasted goat cheese with honey. A lunchtime formula is great value. But on top of the remarkable décor and cuisine, the welcome is very warm and service is delightful. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 12pm - 2pm Tue & Wed 7:30pm - 10pm Thu, Fri, Sat 7:30pm - 10:30pm Sun : closed all day [moreless]

(1 Avenue Foch in Lille, France)

Le Cercle restaurant in Lille centre in the charmingly-named, green Square du Petit Quinquin couldn’...t be more typically French if it wore a beret. The bleu awning stretches over rattan chairs on the pavement. Inside the ambience is cosy, decorated with classic bentwood bistro chairs, white table linens, mirrors, fresh flowers and walls the colour of nicotine. The menu, too, is exactly what you’d wish from a French brasserie – foie gras de canard, home-smoked salmon, braised camembert with salad, frites and cornichons, chocolate mousse – as well as dishes typical of the region like potjevleesch, a classic chicken or rabbit terrine, all renowned for their quality and authenticity. The menus are easy on the pocket and more than one stag or hen night has started here and gone on to greatness. Le Cercle is a gem. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Mon - Fri 11:45am - 2:30 pm Wed - Sat 7:45pm - 10:30pm Sun: closed all day [moreless]

(6 Rue du Nouveau Siecle in Lille, France)

Le Hochepot restaurant in the heart of Lille offers classic Flemish cooking allied with true origina...lity, all in a warm and welcoming setting and at a friendly price. Le Hochepot, named for the traditional workingman’s meal of sundry meats stewed with seasonal veg, has the feel of an estaminet – the local, low-key version of bar/brasseries. With quarry-tiled floor, exposed brick, rustic seating, this is the perfect setting for authentic Flemish regional dishes like carbonnade flamande, or beef stewed in beer with onions and brown sugar, potjevleesch, or terrine of rabbit or chicken. Michel and Anne Jeandel keep the place full with excellent cooking and true friendliness. If you’re aiming for the authentic experience, the beverage is beer and Le Hochepot specializes in the beers of French Flanders. The dining room seats up to 60 for large parties, and the Jeandels will respect your budget in creating menus for your party. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Mon - Fri 12pm - 2pm & 7pm - 10pm Sat 7pm - 10:30pm Sun: closed all day [moreless]

(1 Rue Saint-Jacques in Lille, France)

Le Lion Bossu restaurant in Vieux Lille near the Place du Lion d’Or and five minutes from the train ...stations, is one of Lille’s gastronomic stars. The dining rooms, dating from the late 1600’s, combine luxe red velvet banquettes and antique copper pots with exposed rustic, modern art hung on antique brick walls and beams and, downstairs, curving vaults. It works brilliantly. Monsieur Coue welcomes you warmly into the establishment, while Madame Coue works her magic in the kitchen creating dishes like filet of beef in red wine with raviolis of foie gras or her famous escargots brochette with gazpacho. For special private banquets and receptions, Le Lion Bossu comfortably seats up to 50 – recommended for both private events and corporate entertaining. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. Opening hours: Mon - Sun 12pm - 2pm Mon - Thu & Sat 7:30pm - 10pm Fri 7:30pm - 11pm Sun : closed for dinner [moreless]

(1 Place Sébastopol in Lille, France)

Le Sébastopol restaurant in Lille’s lively Beaux Arts-Gambetta district is a classic, understated re...staurant where gastronomy reaches peaks of excellence – and there’s a Michelin star to recognize it. Maitre Chef Jean-Luc Germond creates dishes that unite classic French cooking with the finest local ingredients and traditions. It all looks beautiful on the plate, as well. Wife Nicole welcomes you warmly into the fine art deco dining room in colours of warmest reds and earth tones with natural light pouring through the French windows onto the snowy-linened tables. Invite guests upstairs to dine privately in one of three rooms, Le Scrive seating 2 to 4, Le Mac Mahon from 4 to 10, and Le Crimée seating 8 to 20, each as classically lovely as the main dining room. Menus include a la carte, main menu, the seven-course Musée et Gourmandise, dramatic Theatre des Saveurs with two glasses of ‘découverte’ wine, and the light Sur le Pouce for lunch. Germond will consult with you to formulate the perfect menu for your private event and, with a mind-boggling five hundred wines on offer, the perfect bottles to complement the dishes, too. Le Sébastopol is one of Lille’s culinary highlights. Upon arrival, please inform the restaurant that your booking was made via toptable. A credit card is required for bookings of 8 people or more, absolutely no money will be charged to your card, this is just to secure the booking. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 7:30pm - 10pmTues - Thurs & Sun 12pm - 2pm [moreless]