Honfleur has a wide range of restaurants due to the beauty and charm of this fishing port. But finding a good table is not necessarily so easy, you have to know how to sort out. That’s what we’ve tried to do for you in this article by giving you our opinions on what we think are the best restaurants in town!
Even if taste is, by definition, a personal matter, we have selected tables in Honfleur where the products are fresh, the chef’s touch recognizable and the restaurant’s atmosphere conducive to a good culinary moment.
This selection is completely independent, we ate anonymously and paid our bill in full.
Starred restaurants in Honfleur
1. Restaurant La Fleur de Sel (Bib)
Slightly set back from the port of Honfleur, in one of the small picturesque streets that make the charm of the city, we had a real crush on this gastronomic restaurant.
The menu reflects the image of the restaurant and its chef, warm. We dare to marry textures and tastes by revisiting the recipes of Norman grandmothers and we magnify the seasonal vegetables for our greatest happiness.
If this restaurant still exists after more than 20 years of existence, it is because its chef Vincent Guyon has been able to constantly question his cuisine in order to adapt it to the changing tastes of his customers. A success!
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: -+40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Read our full review of our experience at Restaurant La Fleur de Sel
2. SaQuaNa (Bib)
Expect to be surprised… When a double starred chef decides to reinvent himself to share his love of gastronomy with as many people as possible, the result is SaQuaNa.
Open from 7am to 11pm, this restaurant-bakery-izakaya (surprising, isn’t it?) offers to accompany you from breakfast to dinner in a discovery of the best products of our land and in a resolutely friendly atmosphere.
The dishes offered betray the mixed influences of Alexandre Bourdas, originally from Aveyron (long live the pascade!), who has been living in Normandy since 2006, but who does not forget to go to Japan (sushi) or Morocco (salads)…
The wine list betrays this same ambition: you will find small, accessible wines from producers (as daily wines) as well as great Burgundy wines.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: bistronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: -20 to 40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
3. Restaurant Le Bréard (bib)
Two steps from the beautiful Saint Catherine square and a few steps from the port, this modern storefront hides a restaurant that owes its name to Charles Bréard. Archaeologist and historian of the 19th century, he is the author of a reference work on the Honfleur sailors (which we promised to read before our next visit).
But here, we don’t live in the past, the decoration is contemporary and the kitchen promises to be daring. The chef, Fabrice Sébire, trained in the best Parisian restaurants (a great track record…), delivers a menu that spices up the classics with exotic touches.
If you like sweet and salty (as we do) you will be in for a treat and we challenge you to a meal full of gustatory surprises!
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Need to rent a car in Normandy?
Our advice:
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a compact car (some city streets are narrow).
- Think of thefull insurance (some winding passages in the old villages and tight parking in the big cities).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
Voir nos conseils
Other (very good) restaurants in Honfleur
4. Restaurant L’Âtre
Located slightly back from the harbor, this new restaurant, born in the heart of the confinement is making its place in Honfleur. The decoration is sober and elegant, with a semi-open kitchen at the end of the room.
You can either opt for an à la carte dish, relatively classic but very well executed, or give free rein to the inspiration of chef Julien Lefebvre who proposes meals in 4 to 6 sequences.
Because what makes the restaurant interesting is the personality of the chef who claims a very high creativity and requirement. To do this, he seeks out the best of local products and reinvents them without altering their taste, to the delight of our taste buds.
Please note that during the season (from mid-September), the chef offers a 5-step variation on scallops fished in the Bay of Seine.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: near the port
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: -+40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Read our full review of our experience at Restaurant L’Âtre
5. Restaurant l’Huître Brulée
Between the Place Sainte Catherine and the port, a discreet sign shelters one of the most greedy tables of the city, the Oyster Brulée. To reassure you, the restaurant owes its name to its location in the rue Brulée (named after a fire in 1554) and not to any absent-mindedness on the part of its chef, Paul Lacheray.
In a chic brocante atmosphere, with exposed beams and stones, discover a short menu (4 starters and 4 courses) which magnifies the fish and vegetables of season produced in short circuit.
And even if they’re not burned, don’t miss the oysters, 2 of which should surprise you (we’re keeping the whole secret)!
Natural wines and ciders for this restaurant, definitely very nice.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: bistronomic
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: -20 to 40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
6. Restaurant le Tourbillon
Léa Lassarat, a native of Le Havre, has been putting all her energy and creativity into revitalizing the hotel and restaurant offer in Normandy for the past ten years. In Honfleur, it will be the Maisons de Léa, a cozy 4-star hotel and its restaurant Le Tourbillon.
Resolutely in its time, this restaurant promises you a meal all in greediness, with an option by the fire, if ever the rain should fall on the city (everyone knows that it never rains in Normandy) or terrace if you wish to bask in the sun.
The great classics of gastronomy are revisited with herbs, spices and sometimes explosive accompaniments (special mention for the scallop carpaccio with its beet sorbet).
The wine list is just as eclectic, but we feel the same attachment to products of character. With a dozen beautiful references covering the major French wine regions, you should be able to find your happiness in the selection by the glass.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: bistronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: -+40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Read more
- read our complete article (review and photos) on our dinner at Le Tourbillon restaurant
7. Restaurant L’endroit
The issue of this restaurant is the place! Set back from the port, in a much quieter area, it is housed in a former architect’s office with an“indus” decoration. Its owner relies on a generous and hearty cuisine to attract customers to him.
Because here, we don ‘t mess around with cooking and the young chef, Vincent Courel, assumes his love of rustic and seasonal cooking: the rib of beef will be 1.5 kg and the lobster 6 to 800g!
But beyond the quantity, creativity is also at the rendezvous and we would be tempted again by the greedy and so Norman “small roasted camembert of Isigny and its smoked ham of Saint-Lô”.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: near the port
- Type: bistronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Discover Honfleur
- Best things to do in Honfleur
- Where to sleep in Honfleur: our best hotels
- Where to eat in Honfleur: our best restaurants
- Visit the surpicious Sainte Catherine’s Church
- Discover the Eugène Boudin Museum
Best restaurants on the harbor in Honfleur (seafood and fish)
8. Restaurant Le Vieux Honfleur
Located in front of the quai Sainte Catherine, on the old port, one of the oldest tables of the city has beenupdated by the owners of the mythical Saint Simeon farm, the 5 star restaurant located on the heights of the city.
You will be able to taste the traditional seafood platter composed of a crab, oysters, scampi, shrimps and whelks. A must for any successful weekend in Honfleur!
But you can also go on the high seas, either with the sole or the place. The chef, Matthieu Pouleur, who has worked in some of the finest French restaurants, is careful not to distort the taste. The advantage when you have at your disposal, ultra-fresh fishing!
You can choose between 2 atmospheres to enjoy this meal: the terrace on the harbor or the more hushed and warm atmosphere of the restaurant room.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: port
- Type: bistronomic and seafood
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
9. L’écailleur
This time we are in the axis of the main basin of Honfleur harbor, with a beautiful view on the lively quays of the city. The decoration has been completely redesigned in 2021 and offers a very marine atmosphere based on warm wood.
The menu is short, seasonal, and reviewed every month. Seafood products are of course celebrated (oysters, sea bream, scallops…). We especially like the royal tartar with its tomato juice infused with lemongrass.
It is Benoit Domin who is in the kitchen. This self-taught man transformed the family drugstore into a restaurant in 2003. Personally, we think he had a very good idea!
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center/port/country
- Type: fish and seafood
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- See the news of the restaurant
10. Entre terre et mer
Not on the basin directly, but very close to the quai Sainte Catherine, the restaurant “Entre Terre et mer” is comfortably installed in the house where a rear admiral of Napoleon Bonaparte was born.
The seasonal menu changes regularly, but it gives pride of place to seafood. Chef Stéphane Levesque buys directly from Honfleur’s fishermen and claims his commitment to sustainable fishing.
Finally, as far as wine is concerned, this restaurant is one of the few in the city to offer a beautiful and rich menu, with some old vintages (a rare and precious commodity).
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: bistronomic, fish and seafood
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Sleeping in Honfleur: our suggestions
Option 1
Choose a historic house near the old port.
For example in the hotel Absinthe.
– see prices, pictures and availability
Option 2
Choose a hotel higher up for more peace and quiet while remaining close.
For example at the Hotel La Maison de Lucie.
– see prices, pictures and availability
Option 3
A bit of luxury in the surrounding countryside.
For example with the magnificent Saint-Siméon Farm
– see prices, pictures and availability
See all our tips and advice on where to sleep in Honfleur
Best restaurants for a healthy and cheap lunch in Honfleur
11. Restaurant Cakes et gourmandises – Maison Blondel
At 2 steps (well, a few steps to be precise) from the port of Honfleur, you will find this welcoming sign. In a refined and warm decor, you will be able to take a small gourmet break.
Because as its name indicates, here we love authentic delicacies! Pastries (cakes, tarts, fondants…) and pastries (croissant, pain au chocolat…) are available from breakfast to tea time. Special mention for the Chiboust apple pie. When the Norman apple meets the chiboust cream, a light meringue custard, we can’t resist!
At lunch time, we serve salads around Norman cheeses (including the 2 AOP Camembert and Pont-l’Evêque) and we love it! And between breakfast and lunch, you can of course… have a brunch and mix a lot of salty and sweet things to start your day (late)!
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: light catering
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: -20
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- Discover the map
12. Restaurant Laurence in Honfleur
A little set back from the harbor in one of Honfleur’s most charming little streets, hides Laurence’s restaurant-tea shop-brocante . Why choose when you can offer your customers homemade food in an authentic brocante setting (plates and tablecloths included)?
The menu is on the slate and offers 3 starters and 3 courses. Simple, but fresh, home-made and good!
The icing on the cake (well, the cakes…), the meal ends with a nice all-you-can-eat dessert buffet! And it takes a lot of willpower to resist the cream puffs and other crunchy chocolate pies…
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: light catering
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: -20
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- See the news of the restaurant
For quality tips, support us!
Do you enjoy all the free content you find on our blog, without intrusive ads?
Our independence, the only guarantee of qualitytips, is partly based on your generosity!
We offer you to give us a coffee (or several) in the hope of sharing it with you one day in person!
Restaurant where to eat with your children in Honfleur
13. Restaurant L’auberge du chatoqué
In one of the streets overlooking Honfleur harbor, this new restaurant offers a choice of three atmospheres to spend areal good time.
Conviviality is the key word of the place, and is called for on all floors. The decoration will take you from the urban jungle with a vegetal ceiling to the shores ofcontemporary Asia, with wooden coffee tables and long zinc benches.
The cuisine will take you across continents, from unstructured sushi to Middle Eastern Kefta and even a New York hot dog revisited with chicken sausage.
The children (renamed here kittens, we thought rather tigers, but it is a question of point of view…) are not forgotten with a dedicated menu.
Practical information
- Neighborhood: historical center
- Type: contemporary brewery
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: -20 to 40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- Reservation
Best gastronomic restaurants around Honfleur
14. Restaurant Capucine
At the exit of Honfleur, on the way to Deauville by the flowery coast, a beautiful 17th century manor house transformed into a hotel (Les Jardins de Copellia) is hidden. On the first floor, a very nice gastronomic table welcomes you.
For all those who want to feel the special atmosphere of this mythical coast, sit in front of the bay window and enjoy the incredible lights on the sea that inspired the impressionists!
In a cosy-chic, resolutely contemporary atmosphere, the young chef, Damien Fremont proposes to make you rediscover basic and seasonal products, but literally revisited and reinvented by his care. This walk of 3 to 6 times, promises you beautiful meetings and a very good culinary moment.
This table reminded us of the MAGA restaurant in Orleans, a sign thata new generation is arriving in our restaurants for our greatest happiness.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: countryside
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: -+40€.
- Specialty from Normandy: yes/no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
15. Restaurant Auberge de La Source
In the Saint-Siméon collection, we choose the Auberge de la Source. The mythical Saint-Simeon farm, a 5-star hotel on the heights of Honfleur, has expanded in recent years and now offers no less than 5 tables in Honfleur and the surrounding area!
Located a little outside Honfleur, in the heart of the beautiful Normandy countryside, this charming hotel-restaurant is spread over 4 small buildings, including the inn itself in typical red brick and a beautiful half-timbered farmhouse.
In the kitchen, the young Chef Alexis Valton proposes a cuisine of his time that mixes local products with the great classics of French gastronomy. The trout fillet will be sprinkled with Norman saffron, the pig’s trotter crisp will be cooked withapple vinegar and the gourmet cheese will of course be hot Camembert cheese cooked in its box (try to consume in moderation, but we can’t…).
Practical information
- Neighborhood: countryside
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
Plan your trip to Normandy!
→ Inspiration destinations
Deciding where to go in Normandy – the best destinations
Our weekend ideas: best-of, romantic, unusual, seaside, luxury, family
→ Best-of
Best things to do in Normandy
Best cities in Normandy
Most beautiful beaches of Normandy
Most beautiful villages of Normandy
Best castles of Normandy
Best abbeys of Normandy
Read our complete guide to visit the Mont-Saint-Michel
Discover the D-Day sites
→ Practice
Where to stay in Normandy – best places and hotels
See our tips for renting a car at CDG airport, Orly airport, Beauvais airport, Caen, Rouen, Bayeux…
Other restaurants where to eat in Honfleur
They did not make it into our top 15, but these restaurants are also good restaurants to try during your stay in Honfleur.
Other gourmet restaurants
- The Impressionists: the gastronomic restaurant of the Relais & Chateau of the Saint Simeon farm. In a wonderful setting, facing the sea, on the heights of Honfleur, enjoy a menu in 8 shades that will make you travel along the Normandy and Brittany coasts. Book
- Bistro la Boucane: the bistro this time of the Relais & Chateau de la ferme Saint Siméon. We dine in an old thatched cottage of the XVIIth century warmly decorated. The menu is (slightly) more accessible than that of the gastronomic restaurant, and offers beautiful local products. Book
Other fish and seafood restaurants
- L’escale: between the basin and the fishing port, a very welcoming restaurant whether you choose the covered veranda or the room of this beautiful timber-framed house. You will find well-sourced products, especially in seafood and lobsters, and cooked without frills but with precision. Discover the map
- L’absinthe: facing the fishing port, this beautiful address offers all the sea products, in 2 beautiful rooms with exposed stones and period beams. The wine list is rich with 400 references, with a small penchant (quite understandable) for Burgundy. Discover the menu
Other traditional restaurants
- La tortue: in the heart of old Honfleur, in a half-timbered house, a beautiful menu in the air of time. Note that the restaurant offers a 3-course vegetarian menu, as well as a children’s menu specially designed by the chef. Discover the menu
- La lieutenance: we are talking about the restaurant located in the historical center and not the historical building at the entrance of the port. The classics of French gastronomy are revisited with flavors from elsewhere (guacamole, chorizo, soy sauce with acacia flavors …). A culinary change of scenery guaranteed! Discover the map
Other restaurants for cheap lunch
- Chez Justine et Quentin: in a small recess 2 steps from the port, this small shop is unanimously appreciated. On the menu are a revisited burger and gourmet salads with superb fresh local products. To turn your children away from a well-known American brand. Discover the news of the restaurant
- At D.D. d’Honfleur: even if we are not in the heart of a wine region (do you know our website loirelovers.fr by the way?), D.D. d’Honfleur shows us that we can love good wines in Normandy. And he offers tapas and boards to accompany your drinks. Discover the news of the restaurant
Other restaurants to eat with children
The restaurants already presented above that offer children’s menus or whose menu can please our toddlers:
- At Justine and Quentin’s: to make them discover the real taste of Norman hamburgers.
- La tortue: the chef has designed a menu just for kids
- L’escale: the restaurant offers a “menu that adapts to the appetite of your children”.
- Cakes and sweets – Maison Blondel: will they resist the delicious 3 chocolate cookies (but also spread…)?
Other restaurants for brunch
The restaurants already presented above offer brunches:
- Cakes & Goumandises: a brunch with brine or a bacon brunch to be completed with one (or more) of the gourmet pastries of the house
- SaQuaNa: if the chef has hung up the stars (for the moment) it is precisely to be able to welcome his customers from morning to night. Ideal for an upscale brunch.
- Le G’ours’mandise became Le Jardin des curiosités: located not far from the church of Saint Catherine, this waffle specialist also offers a Norman brunch that will end with… a sweet waffle!
Don’t make the same mistake we did!
On one of our last trips to Europe, a hacker stole our credit card details while we were using a hotel WiFi.
So our trip began with a “card blocked” call… Not funny at all!
Learn from our mistake, make a small VPN investment to surf without worry.
