The traditional eating establishments are called Estaminets; Estaminet Au Vieux De La Vieille is a favourite (but book). There’s quite a few. Local dishes include mussels and chips, Le Welsch, a heart-attack of cheese, beer, ham and bread, Carbonade Flamande, a rich beef stew with chips. The local cheese in Maroilles, very pungent. Many of the bars do meat/cheese platters (Planches) which are often huge (with bread of course) for about €15. Best patisserie/cake place is the world-famous Méert (https://www.meert.fr/) in the old town. Plenty of other restaurants, lots of more ethnic ones in the Wazemmes district. A friend owns a very fine Indian establishment – L’été indien, https://ete-indien-restaurant.fr/. All the usual fast-food suspects are present. Very, very good ‘proper’ burgers at L’Adresse, 34 Bis Rue des Boucher.
Lots and lots of restaurants on Rue du Gand in the old town.
Most bars are really brasseries, so do food. Simplistically you won’t be disappointed. The French are obsessed by food, so apart from the fast-food joints and ubiquitous kebab shops, places don’t survive if the food isn’t good or is overpriced.
Chips are a big deal here! You’ll find the various Friterie Meuniers (one in Grand Place) are utterly reliable for huge portion of frites and stuff! If you all want to eat different things (!) then there are two food halls: Kitchen Market Lille (rue des Tanneurs) and Grand Scéne (rue de Béthune).
Breakfast, apart from the ever-present croissant, is not such a thing. The only place I’ve found for a decent brunch-type thing is the Australian Paddo Café, by the cathedral on rue du Cirque. Busy and no reservations, https://paddocafe.com/. Excellent food and service. Soho Urban Food (rue Léon Trulin) is highly rated for a big buffet-type meal; I’ve not been. There’s also one at the stadium. I find the Indian restaurants in France pretty bland by English standards, with the exception of my mate Harsh’s L’ete indien!
La Bellezza, Rue Esquermoise, is an excellent Italian restaurant. Always big queues.
There are quite a few sushi places, deeply average in my experience. Some weird ‘fusion’ joints – Coté Sushi – a Peruvian/Japanese experiment: no me neither. Lots of Couscous (France’s adopted cuisine, like curry for us) restaurants, particularly in the Wazemmes area.
There’s an English tearoom in the old town, Elizabeth’s on rue Basse. Good in my experience; quite small. But, as mentioned previously, for the full-on tearoom/cake experience Méert is stunning!
People queue endlessly for meringue-based local specialities from Les Merveilleux de Fred, Rue de la Monnaie, (https://auxmerveilleux.com/en/). The Merveilleux consists of meringue, chocolate, whipped cream, coated with shavings of dark chocolate. [There’s one in Lille-Flandres too].
Waffles are quite a big thing here too. Covered in whipped cream!
For cheap food, most patisseries/boulangeries do very good, large sandwiches (€3.5-5ish), or they will make them for you. The chain Paul, which is in the UK, was founded in Lille. Perfectly acceptable, but not the best.
If you’re in the mood for fine dining, there are three Michelin-starred restaurants in the centre: Guide Michelin
If you want something different there is actually an urban street food festival this weekend, https://www.lillestreetfoodfestival.com/.
Other Estaminets
Chez La Vieille 60 Rue de Gand estaminetlille.fr/chezlavieille/
Le Barbue d’Anvers 1 bis rue St Etienne, www.barbuedanvers.fr
Chez Raoul 56 Rue de Gand www.chez-raoul-estaminet.fr
Lille RWC Guide 