Au Petit Raphaël is a couple-run bistro on Rue des Hauts Pavés in Nantes, careful cooking on regional produce at €27 for three courses at lunch.
Signature: Beef tataki, Mushroom bisque
Tip: Dinner happens only from Wednesday to Friday and runs €36 to €43; the Monday and Tuesday lunch is the cheaper entry point.
Emporietto crosses bistronomy with Italy on Rue Adolphe Moitié in Nantes, artisan Italian goods set against produce from farms around the city.
Signature: Seasonal Italian plates, Artisan Italian produce
Tip: The evening menu runs €45 for three courses while lunch starts at €24; the room closes for the whole weekend.
Les Cadets in Nantes is the Bernabé brothers' Michelin-starred room on Rue des Hauts Pavés, an iodine-led lunch menu and carte blanche dinners.
Tip: Lunch runs €41 Tuesday to Friday; evenings are carte blanche in five or seven courses and need booking.
Gwaien, Breton for Audierne, is Jérémy Guivarch's seafood dining room in Nantes, where over 90 percent of the fish is landed by sustainable boats.
Tip: There is no dinner service on Wednesday; the name is the Breton word for the chef's home port of Audierne.
Fricotte works as neighbourhood canteen, coffee shop and salon de thé on Rue des Hauts Pavés in Nantes, with pastries baked on site each morning.
Signature drink: Freshly roasted filter coffee
Tip: Dogs are welcome and the walls rotate work by Nantes artists; Friday closes early at 14:00, so plan that afternoon elsewhere.
Bam Bam Café is a neighbourhood coffee shop and canteen on Rue Adolphe Moitié in Nantes, a seasonal card with vegan pastries beside the espresso.
Signature drink: Espresso with vegan pastry
Tip: Monday starts late at 11:00 and Friday stops at 15:00; the shop posts a summer timetable, so check the week before a weekend trip.
La Petite Boulangerie was founded by a Meilleur Ouvrier de France baker and works organic grains at Place Saint-Félix in Nantes, café tables included.
Tip: It closes on Wednesday, opens at 06:45 the rest of the week and keeps a tea salon beside the bread counter.
Worth the queue: Pain bio au levain
Pains, Beurre et Chocolat bakes organic levain loaves and AOP butter viennoiserie near the Saint-Félix canal in Nantes, and it trades on weekdays only.
Tip: The gâteau nantais here is heavy on rum and needs ordering ahead; the shop shuts entirely at the weekend.
Worth the queue: Gâteau nantais to order
Oldü bakes at Pont du Cens on the northern edge of Nantes, a quarter boulangerie whose gâteau nantais keeps the rum discreet and the crumb moist.
Tip: The gâteau nantais is among the cheaper ones in the city at about €2.90, with four, six and eight share formats to order.
Worth the queue: Gâteau nantais
Rosemary is the pastry salon two sisters run on Rue des Hauts Pavés in Nantes, classics rebuilt with herbs and spices and cut back on sugar.
Tip: Weekend brunch runs about €28 a head and needs booking; the gâteau nantais carries a rosemary note that is theirs alone.
Worth the queue: Gâteau nantais scented with rosemary
Maison Juhel took the prize for the best gâteau nantais in 2022 and still bakes it on Boulevard Robert Schuman in the north west of the city.
Tip: It opens at 06:30 six days a week and closes on Tuesday, but Sunday is a morning service only, finishing at 13:30.
Worth the queue: Gâteau nantais
Cime roasts specialty coffee on Rue des Hauts Pavés in Nantes, seasonal microlots from Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia and Peru sold in bags or brewed.
Tip: The house also runs a coffee shop on Rue Santeuil, and tasting or brewing workshops are booked through the roastery.
Sources from: Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Peru
How they serve: Espresso, Filter, Whole bean retail, Subscription
Kultivar buys green coffee direct and roasts it on Rue Sylvain Pâris in Nantes, washed, natural and anaerobic lots from Ethiopia and Colombia.
Tip: The shop shuts over lunch on every opening day, so aim for the morning or the middle of the afternoon.
Sources from: Ethiopia, Colombia
How they serve: Espresso, Filter, Whole bean retail
Les Bouteilles keeps 1,500 references in its cellar on Rue de Bel Air in Nantes, poured beside plats du jour a short walk from Talensac market.
Signature pour: An inexpensive Muscadet from the Loire end of the list
Wine focus: Around 1,500 references, Muscadet through to Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Food: Plats du jour, crispy tête de veau, grilled monkfish
Tip: Glasses run €3.50 to €15, so the Loire end of the list is the cheap way in; the room stays shut Sunday through Tuesday.
Greengrocer and weekday lunch counter in one, near the Talensac market, with a card that turns over weekly and a burger that never leaves it.
Signature: Weekly lunch card, Burger with house frites
Tip: Cooked lunches are weekday midday only; outside that the shop side sells produce, and the queue moves quickly before one o'clock.