La Mandale works a creative bistronomic card on Rue Léon Jamin in Nantes, Loire and Breton produce given texture and an Asian edge by a small open kitchen.
Signature: Creative bistronomic plates, Loire and Breton produce
Tip: Service runs 12:00 to 15:00 and again from 19:30, so a late lunch is easier to walk into than an early dinner.
Horizon Café works as coffee shop and bean cellar on Rue Léon Jamin in Nantes, about thirty specialty references rotating through the brew bar.
Signature drink: Rotating single-origin filter
Tip: The same pair run Alaïa Café; brewing, tasting and latte art workshops are booked through the shop's Instagram account.
GLAZ takes its name from the Breton word for blue-green, pouring Cime coffee with a daily three-dish lunch and Sunday brunch near Tour Bretagne.
Signature drink: Cime roasted coffee
Tip: Sunday brunch runs 10:00 to 15:00 and needs booking; gluten-free and vegan versions are made if you flag it when you reserve.
Le Mirza is the neo-retro natural wine counter on Rue Châteaubriand in Nantes, casson tiling, Formica and shared plates until two in the morning.
Signature pour: Ker Ma melon wine at €4.50 the glass
Wine focus: Natural French and imported bottles, glasses from €4.50
Food: Shared plates off the counter, flatbreads and tarte tatin
Tip: Three former Brocéliande colleagues run it, so the pouring is chatty and cheap; the bar stays shut Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tartines et Bouchons is the bistro and wine bar on Rue d'Auvours in Nantes, tartines and plain bistro plates against a Burgundy and Loire list.
Signature pour: A Loire white by the glass with the day's tartine
Wine focus: An eclectic list leaning Burgundy and the Loire Valley
Food: Tartines and simple bistro plates
Tip: Dinner runs Tuesday to Friday only and the house takes three weeks of congés in August, so ring before a late-summer visit.
Kombu on Rue Léon Jamin in Nantes toasts €11 sandwiches from local producers at lunch, then turns to shared plates and natural wine at night.
Try: Toasted premium sandwiches
Tip: Founders Léo and Maximilien source through the Kiosque Paysan network; the evening tapas card is a different register from lunch.
Shan Dao is a Franco-Taiwanese café on Quai de Versailles in Nantes, serving bento boxes, milk-bread sando and organic bubble tea from early morning.
Try: Taiwanese bento and sando
Tip: The bread for the sando is baked in house; the Erdre-side quay outside is the picnic spot.
Marché de Talensac is the grand covered market of Nantes, its hall filled with fishmongers, cheese affineurs and producers six mornings a week.
Tip: Sunday morning is the big social run; come before 10:00 for the fish stalls, then queue at the oyster bars outside.
Ateliers Relief teaches two-hour classes on Rue Châteaubriand in Nantes, fresh tagliatelle and ravioli one evening, ramen or gyoza the next.
Tip: Sessions run two to two and a half hours for eight to twelve cooks, and the nearest dates on the online calendar are already marked complet, so book well ahead.
GLAZ on Rue Cacault in Nantes gives its Sunday over to a €25 brunch, brioche perdue and tartines from a café that bakes everything in house.
Order: Brioche perdue, in whichever version is on that week
Tip: The formula covers drinks, a viennoiserie, tartines, an egg and a plat; Thursday to Saturday it reverts to a straight café.
Pannonica has been the jazz and improvised music stage of Nantes since autumn 1994, a small room that leans hard on discovery and emerging players.
Tip: Sets usually start at 20:30; tickets go through the venue's own box office rather than the door.
La Bouche d'Air programmes contemporary French chanson at the Salle Paul Fort in the Talensac quarter of Nantes, seated shows most weeks of the season.
Tip: The box office shuts for summer from 10 July and reopens on 1 September, so book around the break.