Chicken braised and finished in a sauce of cream and melted maroilles, the washed-rind cheese of the Avesnois. Powerfully savoury, and always served with frites.
Maroilles is reported to have first been made in 962 by a monk at the Abbey of Maroilles, southeast of Lille, and it won AOC status in 1976 and AOP in 1996. It is a washed-rind cheese with an orange crust and a smell that arrives before the plate does. Northern kitchens use it as a sauce base rather than a cheese board, and chicken in maroilles is the most common result. Every estaminet on Rue de Gand has a version, and the differences come down to how much rind goes in the pan.
3 editor picks for Poulet au maroilles in Lille, ranked by editorial score. All Lille signature dishes · Poulet au maroilles across every city.
Estaminet Chez la Vieille ★ 4.1
Vieux-Lille · 60 Rue de Gand, 59000 Lille
Chez la Vieille on Rue de Gand in Lille is the maroilles house of the strip, a cluttered estaminet where the cheese turns up in almost every course.
Estaminet La Vieille France ★ 4.1
Vieux-Lille · 51 Rue de Gand, 59000 Lille
Estaminet La Vieille France on Rue de Gand in Lille seats 65 and cooks the northern canon, carbonade, blanquette de veau, potjevleesch and pot au feu.
L'Estaminet Lillois ★ 4.0
Vieux-Lille · 21 Rue de la Barre, 59000 Lille
L'Estaminet Lillois on Rue de la Barre in Lille pours around twenty regional beers and cooks carbonade, potjevleesch and chicken in maroilles.