France for foodies

Hauts-de-france has just won European gastronomic region of the year – and it’s only a hop across the Channel

Les grandes fromage

This stunning area of northern France where it borders Belgium is famous for its numerous cheeses. Hauts-de-france produces more than 200 different types of cheese. Look out for maroilles, a soft cow’s milk cheese with a pungent mushroomy odour; mimolette, a semihard cheese with a fruity aroma; or chaud biloute, which is delicious served warm and gooey from the oven.

In Montreuil-sur-mer, Fromagerie Caseus offers a huge variety of regional cheese. In Lille, you can choose from Philippe Olivier’s three excellent cheese shops, while at the Wednesday and Saturday Arras Food Market the creations of 2021 Cheese Champion Virginie Dubois-dhorne take centre stage.

Plats de poisson

Boulogne-sur-mer is home to France’s biggest fishing port and the quays here are lined with shacks selling superfresh spider crab, lobster, langoustines, scallops, sole and oysters. Master your seafood cookery skills at La Matelote where chef Stellio Lestienne offers tips and tricks. Don’t miss Le Chatillon in the port area, it offers an excellent lunch of market-fresh seafood (mains from €12.90). Then explore Boulogne-surmer’s cobbled historic heart, dominated by its basilica.

Légumes très frais

There’s an abundance of leeks, beetroot, sand-grown carrots, cauliflower and “pearl of the north” endives in France’s agricultural heartland. There are even guild-style brotherhoods for individual vegetables grown in the peaty Audomarois marshlands.

Board a flat-bottomed bacôve barge from Saint-omer’s La Maison du Marais visitor centre through tree-lined wetlands where you can admire these extraordinary market gardens. The marshes are home to hundreds of bird species including storks and kingfishers.

C’est l’heure du déjeuner

After exploring the town, head to Bacove, Camille Delcroix’s elegant restaurant in the old quarter. Expect brasserie-style lunches with delicious locally sourced ingredients straight from those Audomarois marshlands. Around €40 for a three-course menu (restaurant-bacove.com).

Les meilleurs restaurants

Hauts-de-france has 17 Michelinstarred restaurants alongside affordable bistro-style estaminets. You’ll find a range of them masterminded by chef Alexandre Gauthier. His Grand Place Café (mains from €15, fr.gaultmillau.com) serves delicate brioche-based croque monsieurs and – a Flemish favourite – the Welsh, a cheese-heavy hot sandwich pepped up with beer.

For finer dining, try La Grenouillere,

Gauthier’s two-michelin-starred farmhouse restaurant and hotel (three courses from €65). If you stay in one of the inn’s eight exquisite hunting huts, you can enjoy signature dishes like blinis stuffed with local tourteau crab (lagrenouillere.fr).

Et maintenant pour le dessert

Chantilly cream is named after the famous château at Hauts-de-france. Head for its Atelier de la Chantilly (atelierdelachantilly.fr) and have a go at whipping up your own.

Over in Lille, seek out the stuccoed tearooms at Chez Méert (meert.fr),

a bejewelled patisserie store. The speciality here is a wafer-thin gaufre

(waffle), filled with Madagascan vanilla paste. Fans included Jackie Kennedy and Winston Churchill.

Local chocolatiers Beussent Lachelle, who grow their own beans in Ecuador, have shops throughout the region. You can also visit their factory near Le Touquet-paris-plage (choco-france.com).

Envie d’une bière?

Over half of France’s breweries are based in Hauts-de-france, offering 200-plus blond, brown, amber and golden ales.

Well-established breweries include Brasserie Castelain, Brasserie Saintgermain and Brasserie Goudale, but microbreweries are also on the rise: look out for quirky beers produced by Lillebased Singe Savant and Les Célestins.

Lille has been brewing beer for 1,000 years and runs an annual Bière a Lille Festival, 17-24 September. Or join a beer treasure hunt organised by L’echappée Bière, a brewery tourist agency, every Saturday (echappee-biere.com).

Célébrez avec du champagne

Some of the finest Champagne producers are to be found in Hauts-de-france. Tour the area’s caves to learn more about their particular blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay grapes. Important Champagne cellars include the 13th-century Maison Pannier in Châteauthierry and the Unesco award-winning Champagne Meteyer house in Trelou-surmarne (lesportesdelachampagne.com).

Visitez un marché alimentaire

Saint-omer’s Saturday market spreads from cobbled Place du Maréchal Foch to surrounding streets. Lille’s Marche de Wazemmes is one of the country’s biggest. Over in Amiens, the Saturday morning market in Place Parmentier sells fresh vegetables, fruit and flowers brought by boat from the floating gardens. There are also stalls piled high with seafood from the Baie de Somme (hautsdefrancetourism.com).

Et enfin un super hôtel…

For easy access to the area, stay at Château de Montreuil in Montreuilsur-mer. Doubles, room only, from €140 (chateaudemontreuil.com). In Lille, Grand Hotel Bellevue has a perfect location overlooking the city’s main square. Doubles, room only, from €110

(grandhotelbellevue.com). For foodies, La Matelote in Boulogne sur Mer has an award-winning restaurant. Doubles, room only, from €165 (la-matelote.com). For self-caterers, Evancy offers a range of apartments overlooking the marina. Studio sleeping two, from €90 a night

(evancy.fr). Eurostar offers return tickets from London St Pancras International to Lille from £78 (eurostar.com).