Bleu Canard is a long narrow canteen on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille, floral wallpaper and moleskine banquettes around Ryo Nakamura's market cooking.
Signature: Crispy pork breast, Sesame mille-feuille
Order: Crispy pork breast with white peach.
Tip: Children get adapted portions and something to draw on, which is rare in a room cooking at this level.
Brigand on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire in Lille is blond wood and brick, a bistro of comfort cooking and natural wine run by a chef and sommelier pair.
Signature: Mussels in haddock cream, Red cabbage tatin
Order: Mussels in haddock cream, from the evening sharing plates.
Tip: Lunch is a weekly menu at 25 to 30 euros. Evenings switch to plates built for sharing.
Michel on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille is named for a Lebanese grandfather, a small Levantine kitchen of mezze and falafel that rewrites its card monthly.
Signature: Mezze platters, Falafel
Order: A spread of mezze, ordered for the table.
Tip: Street-food plates at lunch, longer cooking in the evening. The vegetarian half of the card is substantial.
La Chicorée has run on Place Rihour in Lille since 1903, three floors of regional brasserie cooking that keep serving long after the bars close.
Signature: Moules-frites, Carbonade flamande
Order: Moules-frites, at whatever hour you arrive.
Tip: This is the room that solves a 03:00 hunger in Lille. The south-facing terrace is heated in winter.
Le Lys occupies a historic cafe facing the Grand-Place in Lille, a brasserie of carbonade, moules-frites and waterzoï with regional beer to match.
Signature: Carbonade flamande, Waterzoï
Order: Waterzoï, the creamy Flemish stew you rarely see on Grand-Place cards.
Tip: Waffles and pancakes run all afternoon, which makes the terrace useful between services.
Le Broc on Place de Béthune in Lille builds its whole card on cheese, melted on toast, roasted, folded into sauces or scraped over potatoes as raclette.
Signature: Raclette, Tartiflette
Order: Raclette, scraped at the table.
Tip: Menus start at 16.90 euros and the kids' menu is 9.90. It runs seven days a week.
The Place Rihour branch of Le Barbier qui Fume in Lille runs non-stop from 10:00 to midnight, and puts smoked ham and Galloway cheddar into its welsh.
Signature: Welsh with smoked ham, Smoked brisket
Order: The welsh, made with smoked ham and Galloway cheddar.
Tip: Non-stop service all day means it solves the 16:00 problem in central Lille.
Ginko in Lille took a Michelin star for vegetable-forward cooking with a Japanese accent, run by two young chefs on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire.
Order: Flanders pigeon with pak choi kimchi, when it is on the card.
Tip: Reservations are taken by phone only. The wine list leans on natural bottles from women winemakers.
Rouge Barre is Steven Ramon's room on Rue de la Halle in Lille, a red and black space over two floors running creative regional cooking off a market card.
Order: Whatever the market card lists as the fish of the day.
Tip: Book ahead, because the two floors fill fast. Lunch service is easier to get into than dinner.
Club Marot on Rue de Pas in Lille is a bistronomic room run by two cousins, everything made in house including the bread, with a long regional wine list.
Order: The bread, baked in house, and whatever it arrives alongside.
Tip: The wine list has been ranked among France's hundred best by Terre de Vins, so trust the pairing suggestion.
Le Jane on Boulevard Carnot in Lille is a hotel dining room dressed as a jungle, with chef Jean Christophe Gille cooking a widely travelled seasonal card.
Order: The set lunch, the cheapest way to read this kitchen.
Tip: Fifty covers and a hotel address mean a table is easier to get here than in the small Vieux-Lille rooms. Dinner stops at 22:00.
Krevette on Boulevard Jean-Baptiste Lebas in Lille is a seafood room under Florent Ladeyn's wing, cooking cuttlefish, scallops and sardines with natural wine.
Order: Seared cuttlefish from the evening plates.
Tip: Hot dishes stop earlier than the room does, so order the cooked plates before 21:45.
Aokamo is a neo-izakaya on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille, standing room at the bar downstairs and sit-down Japanese menus with a sake list upstairs.
Order: Agedashi dofu, silky fried tofu in hot broth.
Tip: Downstairs runs tachinomi style, standing at the counter, with plates from about 10 euros in the evening.
Le Barbu d'Anvers is a 130-seat Maître Restaurateur estaminet near Rihour in Lille, serving northern regional cooking across three panelled rooms.
Signature: Carbonade flamande, Welsh
Order: Carbonade flamande, the beef stew braised in brown beer.
Tip: A la carte runs 17 to 25 euros. The room closes for a summer break, so check before an August visit.
Aux Moules de Lille works Place Rihour in Lille as a mussels-and-frites brasserie, with oysters, prawns and seafood platters alongside the pots.
Signature: Moules-frites, Plateau de fruits de mer
Order: Moules-frites, which is the reason the room exists.
Tip: Mussels are best from September onward. The kitchen also runs daily specials and a vegetarian plate.
Au Quai du Wault looks onto the old dock basin in Lille, a 28-cover room with a 32-seat terrace serving regional and traditional plates from 15 euros.
Signature: Plat du jour, Regional produce plates
Order: The plat du jour, chalked up each morning.
Tip: Dinner runs Wednesday to Saturday only. The terrace is the reason to come.
Mamatte works Place Rihour in Lille as a bakery and café in one, stuffed croissants and flan at the counter and an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch.
Signature drink: Filter coffee with a croissant fourré
Tip: Sunday and public-holiday brunch runs 10:30 to 15:00 and is served all-you-can-eat.
La Wilderie on Rue Saint-Etienne in Lille is a café and garden centre together, focaccia and falafel bowls eaten among the plants it also sells.
Signature drink: Strawberry iced matcha
Tip: Brunch runs 11:00 to 14:30. The Famous Brownie is worth ordering even after lunch.
Emilie and the Cool Kids on Rue Jean Roisin in Lille bakes seven cookie flavours a day, plus muffins, carrot cake and bagels, using Weiss chocolate.
Signature drink: Shakes and matcha
Tip: Tuesday to Saturday only. Get there before the afternoon or the cookie choice narrows.
Coffee Makers on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille has roasted its own beans since 2013, an espresso bar and tea room over a certified organic roastery.
Signature drink: Espresso from the house roast
Tip: Reservations are taken by SMS or voicemail only. Wednesday opens two hours later than the rest of the week.
Cafés Méo works the corner of the Grand-Place in Lille as a roaster's shop and tasting bar, selling beans in bulk and pouring them at the counter.
Signature drink: Coffee ground to order
Tip: Beans are ground to order at the counter, so say how you brew before they start.
The Place des Buisses branch of Aux Merveilleux de Fred sits beside Lille Flandres station, open from 06:00 and stocked with merveilleux and cramique.
Tip: Open from 06:00 on weekdays, which makes it the only serious pastry option before a first train.
Worth the queue: Cramique
Boulangerie Mathieu on Rue du Molinel in Lille bakes everything on site, classic and organic breads under a counter of tartes au sucre and framboisier.
Tip: The tarte au sucre is the northern one to try, not the lemon meringue everyone photographs.
Worth the queue: Tarte au sucre
Mamatte on Place Rihour in Lille bakes sourdough and stuffed croissants, with a savoury counter and large cakes, seven days a week from 07:00.
Tip: The Mademoiselles pastries and the cinnamon roll go first. Come before 11:00 at a weekend.
Worth the queue: Croissant fourré
Coffee Makers on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille roasts weekly in a certified organic roastery, selling beans across the counter of its own espresso bar.
Tip: Ludovic Fiers roasts in house every week, so ask for the most recent roast date.
Sources from: Ethiopia, Colombia, Brazil
How they serve: Espresso, Filter, Whole bean retail
Cafés Méo keeps a roaster's shop on the Grand-Place in Lille, coffee sold in bulk and ground to order with a small bar for drinking it on the spot.
Tip: Buy whole bean and have it ground at the counter rather than taking the pre-ground tins.
Sources from: Brazil, Ethiopia, Colombia
How they serve: Espresso, Whole bean retail
Le Présentoir on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille is a cave à manger a minute from the Grand-Place, natural wine with a monthly seasonal card beside it.
Signature pour: Whatever the counter has open from the adjoining cave
Wine focus: Natural wines, hundreds of them
Food: Seasonal small plates that change monthly
Tip: Plates change every month and run 8 to 19 euros. The wine shop next door sets the list.
The View is the top-floor hotel bar on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille, looking straight over the Opera and the roofs of the centre with a creative card.
Signature drink: The Aga'tea, plus a daily changing Decouverte
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: The bar runs mixology workshops for guests. Book those separately from a table.
Shelby Secret Bar on Rue Sainte-Anne in Lille is a prohibition-styled room entered through a vintage telephone, with a long list of built signatures.
Signature drink: Le Tommy, whisky with petit beurre, fig liqueur and sandalwood smoke
Food: Drinks only
Tip: The signature cocktails, Le Finn and Le Lizzy among them, run at 14 euros and change with the seasons.
Friterie Meunier works the square outside Lille Flandres station, the regional frites chain serving croquettes, burgers and fish and chips to order.
Try: Frites with fricadelle
Tip: It runs straight through to 22:30 every day, which makes it the reliable pre-train plate.
Salon UBU on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille makes onigiri and onigirazu to order, a lunchtime-only counter that most visitors walk straight past.
Try: Onigiri and onigirazu
Tip: Saturday is the only day it stays open into the afternoon.
Hop[i] brews on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire in Lille and pours the results across fourteen taps, running as a restaurant at lunch and a bar at night.
Tip: Some of the fourteen lines are guest beers, so ask the bar which ones were brewed on these premises.
The book market fills the inner courtyard of the Vieille Bourse on the Grand-Place in Lille every afternoon from Tuesday to Sunday, under the arcades.
Tip: The city publishes days but not clock times for this one. Afternoons are the safe bet.
Le Petit Bouillon Alcide on Rue des Débris Saint-Etienne in Lille keeps the bouillon model alive, a plat du jour formula at 12.90 euros off the Grand-Place.
Try: Formule plat du jour
Tip: Dinner runs Thursday to Saturday only. Lunch is the reliable service.
Friterie Meunier beside Lille Flandres station sells frites, croquettes and fricadelle from 11:00 to 22:30 daily, the cheapest fill near the trains.
Try: Frites and croquettes
Tip: It runs to 22:30 every day, so it covers the gap after most kitchens close.
Emilie and the Cool Kids on Rue Jean Roisin in Lille sets a brunch formula of pancakes, a breakfast bagel, granola, a pastry and two drinks.
Order: The brunch formula with two pancakes and a breakfast bagel.
Tip: The formula includes a pressed orange juice or a lemonade, so do not order drinks separately.
Mamatte on Place Rihour in Lille runs an all-you-can-eat brunch on Sundays and public holidays, 10:30 to 15:00, out of its own bakery counter.
Order: Avocado toast, then whatever pastry is left.
Tip: Sunday and public holidays only for the brunch. The bakery counter runs daily from 07:00.
Mama Shelter on Place Saint-Hubert in Lille runs a 42 euro Sunday brunch of viennoiserie, freshly pressed juices, warm bread and house-made jams.
Order: Freshly pressed juice and the viennoiserie basket.
Tip: Sunday 11:30 to 14:00 only, and it books out. Children under 12 pay half.
Banana Drama on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire in Lille serves brunch every day of the week, including a cramique turned into a plate of pain perdu.
Order: Cramique façon pain perdu, the northern brioche version.
Tip: Its pastries come from Sweet Flamingo, the tea room on Rue Nicolas Leblanc.
We Are Ara on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille serves breakfast and brunch from 09:00 to midday, seven days a week, in the middle of the shopping streets.
Order: Pancakes, before the kitchen switches at midday.
Tip: Brunch stops at midday sharp. After that the card turns to lunch.
Coffee Makers on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille runs a Saturday brunch above its own roastery, banana bread and pastries with house filter coffee.
Order: Banana bread with a filter coffee.
Tip: Reservations are taken by SMS or voicemail only, so text rather than calling.
La Chicorée on Place Rihour in Lille serves regional brasserie food until 04:30 on weeknights and 06:00 at weekends, across three full floors.
Try: Moules-frites and welsh
Tip: This is the only serious kitchen in Lille still cooking at 04:00. Expect a crowd from the clubs.
The Place Rihour branch of Le Barbier qui Fume in Lille runs non-stop from 10:00 to midnight, and puts smoked ham and Galloway cheddar in its welsh.
Try: Welsh with smoked ham and Galloway cheddar
Tip: Non-stop service all day means you can eat here at 16:00 when nothing else is cooking.
Le Network on Rue du Faisan is a big generalist club in central Lille, an immense room under a mezzanine playing pop, electro, reggaeton and rap.
Le Baron on Rue Pierre Mauroy is Lille's underground room, techno, house and electro from midnight until seven, three nights a week.
The BOX Club on Rue Saint-Etienne in Lille programmes house, tech-house and techno, and turns generalist on the busier weekend nights.
The View is the top-floor hotel bar on Rue Pierre Mauroy in Lille, looking over the Opera and the rooftops of the centre with a creative card.
Tip: The bar runs mixology workshops for guests. Book those separately from a table.
Shelby Secret Bar on Rue Sainte-Anne in Lille is entered through a vintage telephone, a prohibition-styled room of built signature cocktails.
Tip: The signature cocktails, Le Finn and Le Lizzy among them, run at 14 euros and change with the seasons.