Lille’s Guilty Pleasures

Food is probably one of the best things about traveling, so why not enjoy it during your trip to Lille and sample some typical dishes? First, it is important that you find the right place, and there is nothing better than an estaminet, the equivalent of a pub – a place where people gather, play games, have food and launch endless discussions.

My favourite estaminet in Lille is Chez la Vieille located in Rue de Gand in the heart of the Old Town. Chez la Vielle offers exactly what you should get in a estaminet: a warm, friendly, and relaxed atmosphere. The decoration is baroque and there are many things hanging on the walls: old advertising for beers and foods, vintage pictures, old pots, etc. You can spend quite a lot of time just looking around.

During you trip to Lille, you must get a beer as people from Northern France are beer lovers rather than wine connoisseurs. You can go for a Belgian beer, but why not try a local beer and go for a Ch’ti? Or even better, a picon bière – the picon is a caramel-flavoured bitter that goes with beer, making it a lot better and stronger.

This drink goes perfectly with the rich cuisine of Northern France: carbonnades frites (beef stewed with beer and gingerbread), potchevelch (a mix of cooked meats), or un welsh (a slice of bread with ham, melted cheese, and an egg on top). Or if you feel adventurous you can get any dish that mentions Maroilles, a very strong local cheese. After this, you can have a waffle, a coffee with a speculos biscuit, or speculos-flavoured ice cream. If after all this you are still hungry, I swear that something, somewhere, went wrong!

Photo: Boeuf Bourguignon by avlxyz