Breton cider is the drink poured with galettes: dry cidre brut or gently sweet cidre doux, low in alcohol, cloudy, and served in a bolée, the wide handleless ceramic cup.
Cider replaced beer as the everyday Breton drink from the sixteenth century onwards as apple orchards spread across the peninsula, and by the nineteenth century Brittany and Normandy between them accounted for most of France's production. Breton cider is made from bittersweet cider apples rather than dessert fruit, fermented slowly and often bottled with residual sugar, which is why cidre doux can come in under 3% alcohol. The bolée, a shallow earthenware bowl with no handle, is still standard in Rennes crêperies. Cornouaille in Finistère is the one protected Breton cider AOC; most of what Rennes drinks is farmhouse cider from Ille-et-Vilaine.
4 editor picks for Cidre de Bretagne in Rennes, ranked by editorial score. All Rennes signature dishes · Cidre de Bretagne across every city.
Crêperie du Pont-Levis ★ 4.2
Les Lices · 6 Rue des Portes Mordelaises, 35000 Rennes
Crêperie du Pont-Levis faces the 15th-century Portes Mordelaises in Rennes, IGP Breton buckwheat galettes at the oldest crêperie address in the city.
Crêperie Ouzh Taol ★ 4.1
Thabor · 27 Rue Saint-Melaine, 35000 Rennes
Ouzh Taol, Breton for at the table, folds burger-galettes and classic buckwheat rounds in a small room on Rue Saint-Melaine in Rennes, best booked ahead.
La Gavotte ★ 4.1
Saint-Georges · 41 Rue Saint-Georges, 35000 Rennes
La Gavotte holds the crêperie corner of Rue Saint-Georges in Rennes, open seven days with an andouille, apple and camembert galette as its calling card.
La Rozell ★ 4.0
Centre · 14 Rue de Penhoët, 35000 Rennes
La Rozell serves galettes non-stop from 11:00 under the beams of a half-timbered house in Rennes, with a shaded sixty-table terrace on Rue de Penhoët.