The chef Julien Lefebvre, a child of the country, has the ambition to make L’âtre one of the best restaurants in Honfleur.
You can feel thecreative hyperactivity in a kitchen where local products are endlessly declined and magnificently presented.
In this article, we take a look at the 5-step journey into the chef’s gourmet universe, which we invite you to enter.
This review is completely independent, we ate anonymously and paid our bill in full.
Why eat at Restaurant L’âtre
Is the restaurant worth it? Our review
It is without hesitation, that we have included the restaurant L’âtre in our article dedicated to the 15 best restaurants to eat in Honfleur.
Since Alexandre Bourdas gave back his 2 stars to start a new concept with SaQuaNa season 3, there are no more starred tables in Honfleur. L’Âtre has the ambition to remedy this situation and has the means to do so. We liked it:
- The overflowing creativity of the chef, who seems to want to reinvent his menu with each meal and who sets high standards.
- Thelove of local products with a seasonal menu and work with local producers: Rebecca, the professional wild flower picker based in Honfleur, Maxime and Morgane who opened their Ati-bio store not far from the hearth…
- The serenity of the breakfast room. Even if you have to give up the beautiful view of the Honfleur harbor, it is nice to have a quiet break in a city that attracts more and more tourists.
DISCOVER Honfleur
- Best things to do in Honfleur
- Where to sleep in Honfleur: our best hotels
- Where to eat in Honfleur: our best restaurants
- Best museums
- Visit the surpicious Sainte Catherine’s Church
- Discover the Eugène Boudin Museum
- Honfleur or Deauville or Cabourg: where to go?
What you will eat there
As we are in the home of a lover of seasonal products, the menu is short (3 starters, 1 meat, 1 fish, 3 desserts)… And since we are in the company of a creative chef, we advise you to give him free rein by opting for a Signatures menu in 4, 5 or 6 sequences.
After appetizers that combine land and sea and awaken your taste buds in a range of textures (crispy, creamy, crunchy …), you have a date with revisited oysters. The first one will be cooked with lean ceviche and chives, while the other will be a beef tartar.
Like the meal itself, this appetizer surprises with its authentic flavors, cleverly presented to make the meal a spectacle.
As good Normans as we are, we love the chef’s signature cheese “Comme un air de camembert”, which offers a warm camembert on a marmalade of cinnamon-infused apples, almond crumble, vegetable brunoise and puffed buckwheat… A delight!
What we ate:
- Duo of oysters, one with lean ceviche and chives, the other with beef tartar.
- Pan-fried duck breast with orange, butternut puffs with condiments.
- Like a camembert, on a cinnamon-infused apple marmalade, almond crumble, vegetable brunoise and puffed buckwheat.
- Red fruits in salmigondis on a vanilla pannacotta, crumble, lemon granita.
USE OUR GUIDE TO PLAN A
DREAM TRIP TO Normandy
All the information you need for your trip:
- 8 maps that make planning easier
- 160+ pre-selected locations
- Practical advice
- 300+ photos to help you choose
What you will drink
2 possible options:
- A beautiful wine list where all the great French wine regions find their place, allowing for many detours into winemakers’ wines, far from the prestigious appellations, such as the Loire wines of François Chidaine.
- More surprisingly, a food/cider pairing that we opted for. For a long time considered as a “fun” product, cider has been moving upmarket for a few years and accompanies the most demanding meals.
We started with a raw cider from the house Father Julesfamous for its calvados, before returning to the flowery coast with the Manor of Apreval (a farm that can be visited 10 minutes from Honfleur) to end on a Poiré (because there are not only apples in life).
The atmosphere of the restaurant
200 meters from the famous Honfleur basin, a little away from the city’s tourist bustle, Julien and his wife Lauriane have opted for a sober and contemporary decoration.
The COVID crisis gave the chef and his teams time to completely rethink the restaurant’s decor, opting for a semi-open kitchens, the dark tones which contrast with the furniture and the parquet floor and an atmosphere dimmed light (not easy to manage for the pictures…).
A beautiful covered terrace opens up in front of the restaurant, where the famous flame of the Hearth is enthroned!
Subscribe to our Newsletter
- Get away from it all with Region Lovers’ beautiful destinations!
- Once a month
- Advertising-free
Why is Restaurant l’âtre famous?
You will have understood, what makes the identity of the restaurant today, is its chef Julien Lefebvre.
A colorful character, he is proud of his career. A native of the region, who attended hotel school in the nearby town of Caen, he went on to work in some fine restaurants in London and then in France, notably as Frédéric Anton‘s second in command at the Pré-Catelan.
He then accompanied Matthieu Pacaud in the opening of his multi-starred restaurants in Paris (Hexagone, Histoires…) before spending two years at Café Lavinal at Château Cordeillan-Bages in the Bordeaux region.
He will set up shop in Honfleur in 2020, by buying the former restaurant Les Fontaines, to fly (finally) on his own wings… and conquer the stars?
Practical information – Restaurant l’âtre, restaurant in
Type of restaurant:
Gastro/bistronomic
Schedules
Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm – 2pm and 7:30pm – 9pm
Where is the Restaurant l’âtre
- Driving time from Rouen: 1h
- Driving time from Evreux: 1h15
- Driving time from Caen: 50 min
- Driving time from Alençon: 1h40
- Driving time from Cherbourg: 2h
WHERE TO STAY IN Honfleur
Option 1:
Choose a historic house near the old port.
- Hotel Absinthe – see prices, photos and availability
Option 2:
Choose a hotel higher up for more peace and quiet while remaining close.
- Hotel La Maison de Lucie – see prices, pictures and availability
Option 3:
A bit of luxury in the surrounding countryside.
- the magnificent Saint-Siméon Farm – see prices, photos and availability
How to get there
The city of Honfleur has been for a long time rather poorly served, even if this has improved (a little) with the construction of the beautiful Pont de Normandie in 1988.
We clearly advise you to opt for the car by renting your car if necessary from Paris.
If you are more adventurous, you can take a train from Paris Saint Lazare either to Le Havre or to Deauville and finish by bus (minimum 3h30 of travel)…
And for having practiced it a lot, we are not sure that the train journeys between Paris and Normandy are much shorter than those told by Marcel Proust at the beginning of the 20th century. A true praise of slowness, or the opportunity to reread the complete ” In Search of Lost Time ” during the trip (7 volumes). It’s up to you!
OUR ADVICE FOR RENTING A CAR IN Normandy
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a car that is comfortable enough (distances can be long) but compact (some parking lots and villages are narrow).
- Think of thecomplete insurance (some roads are tortuous and narrow).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
Parking
When you think of poor transport links, the seaside and a tourist town, you think of parking problems! Even though the number of parking lots has increased tenfold in the last few years, they can fill up quite quickly in summer. The most convenient way to access the restaurant l’Âtre is to park at the Bassin du Centre. As its capacity is limited, you can opt for the Carnot Parking on the other side of the basin.
The city is not very large, so don’t hesitate to jump on the first place you see!
All parking lots in the center are paid and relatively expensive.
The menus
No real menu, you will “just” have to choose between 2 and 6 sequences according to your culinary curiosity (and your appetite, even if the dishes are well proportioned).
Is the restaurant l’âtre family friendly?
Not the table we recommend for a family meal, unless your children are already familiar with gourmet restaurants. Even though the atmosphere is quite relaxed, the taste requirement might be a bit high for them. There is no children’s menu to our knowledge.
The bill
A gastronomic restaurant in a highly touristic city, with an ambitious chef, gives a copious note, but in coherence with the ambition of the restaurant.
Reservation and contact
- We strongly advise you to book directly online.
- And if you still have a question about the restaurant l’Âtre you can learn more on their (beautiful) website.
Our top 3 things to do in Honfleur
Walk around the old basin
Became the most most typical of Honfleur, the old basin was used for a long time by fishermen and sailors who armed their boats in the shelter, before facing the dreaded Sleeve! Lined with tall Norman houses, some of whose facades are covered with slate, the old basin has inspired a whole generation of impressionist paintersinspired by the reflections of the water and the 50 shades of sky so characteristic of the mouth of the Seine. Let yourself be charmed!
Discover the church of Sainte Catherine
This church in the heart of Honfleur is a rare piece of religious heritage in France. Entirely built in wood, its vault has the shape of an overturned boat hull (15th century). Its oak belfry was moved to an annex building for fear of lightning igniting the frame, but also because it could not withstand the weight of the 6 bells sheltered for a time in the belfry. We particularly like the atmosphere of this church which recalls the maritime vocation of Honfleur with its numerous ex-voto plaques dedicated to fishermen and the sea.
Read our article.
Visit the Eugène Boudin Museum
Born in Honfleur in 1824, Eugène Boudin is an emblematic painter of the impressionist movement who was greatly inspired by the landscapes of Normandy and Brittany. He has become famous for his marine works, knowing how to render, like no other, theharbor atmosphere that we love so much. The Eugène Boudin Museum in Honfleur, located in the former chapel of the Augustine convent, houses a rich collection dedicated to the famous painter and the Impressionists, but also to lesser known aspects of Norman popular art (wooden games, posters…).
Read our article.
And to learn more:
