The Top 10 Classic Restaurants In Rennes France

The capital of Brittany, Rennes is one of the most pleasant and charming cities in France. Its fascinating architecture and dynamism nurtured by the high number of students lend the city a laid-back atmosphere. Rennes’ culinary landscape is French at heart and features an impressive number of award-winning restaurants and fine dining establishments. This is the ultimate culture lover’s guide to eating out in Rennes.
Palais St Georges | © Mypouss/WikiCommons

Le Moon

Le Moon’s decor alone makes this classy and trendy restaurant a must. Depending on your mood, you can choose between several rooms: somefeature a darker ambiance and favor an intimate dinner, while others capture the day’s light and make the venue an ideal place for a business lunch. One of the rooms features a wall covered with dozens of aligned skulls! The highlights on the menu include goat’s cheese spring rolls with nutmeg cream, duck preserve with mashed sweet potatoes and rocket, and codfish in a citrus fruit crust. After diner, take time to relax on one of the restaurant’s unusual designer sofas.

Le Moon, 4 Avenue Jean Janvier, Rennes, France, +33 2 99 30 09 20

1. Le Galopin

Brasserie, Restaurant, French

This typical Rennes venue embraces the spirit of the institution that is the French brasserie. Located in the heart of the city, Le Galopin is the perfect spot for dinner before a good film or play. The decor is characterized by simple wooden furniture, large mirrors as well as impressionist and pop art paintings. Although the venue serves a great variety of traditional French dishes, its specialty is certainly the expertly prepared, fresh seafood. Le Galopin’s owner has received the title of maître restaurateur from the French state, an homage to the quality of the venue’s homemade food and its staff’s savoir-faire.

La Saint Georges

One of Brittany’s culinary specialties is crêpes, large round pancakes characterized by their thin dough and a slightly crispy texture. The region is home to innumerable crêperies, popular restaurants where everyone can enjoy either savory or sweet crêpes. La Saint Georges in Rennes distinguishes itself with its contemporary, colorful decor largely inspired by pop art, with neat furniture and subtle lighting. Try the homemade ice-cream in unusual flavors such as thyme, camembert and buckwheat, and marshmallow or Smarties flavored crêpes.
La Saint Georges, 11 Rue du Chapitre, Rennes, France, ‎+33 2 99 38 87 04

2. La Fontaine aux Perles

Restaurant, French

La Fontaine aux Perles has been critically acclaimed by renowned guides such as Michelin, Champérard and Gault et Millau. The restaurant is situated in an old building once dedicated to pottery-making, where guests can enjoy an excellent menu prepared by La Fontaine aux Perles’ chef, Rachel Gesbert.

La Réserve

Located just behind the Parliament of Brittany, this brasserie serves excellent and very affordable food. La Réserve specializes in French cuisine prepared with the best ingredients from local producers, including a huge array of organic options. La Réserve is defined by its warm, friendly and convivial atmosphere. In the sunnier months, the terrace is filled with guests enjoying the sunshine outside on wicker chairs and having lunch and a glass of good wine.
La Réserve, 36 Rue de la Visitation, Rennes, France, ‎+33 2 99 84 02 02

3. Le Wok

Restaurant, Asian

Le Wok is a restaurant that serves various Asian foods. Try Le Wok’s nigri, maki and sashimi, or the crispy squid, Chinese ravioli with fried vegetables stuffing and tomato and ginger sauce, noodles or rice woks. All mains are best followed by the fantastic desserts on offer, including mochi, a colorful Japanese specialty made from sweet, glutinous rice.

Crêperie La Gavotte

The Crêperie La Gavotte is the ultimate madeleine de Proust for everyone who grew up in France. The simple wooden furniture and colorful tablecloths evoke an image of the typical french kitchen. The Crêperie La Gavotte offers different types of crêpes with all sorts of fillings, as well as delicious ice-cream, caramel sweets, home-made chouchen (a local alcoholic drink of honey and apple) and strawberries from Plougastel, which are among the best in the country. Guests can feel right at home with the restaurants slogan: ‘Ici, on peut lécher son assiette !’ (‘Here, you can lick your plate’)!
Crêperie La Gavotte, 41 Rue Saint-Georges, Rennes, France, +33 2 99 36 29 38

Paris New York

An upscale, classy black-and-white venue that echoes the luxury of New York’s best restaurants, Paris New York is a must for French gastronomy lovers. The chef, Frédéric Barbier, aims to promote conviviality and sharing through his cuisine. Although his fabulous dishes are inspired by his trips all over the world, he has a preference for products from the South of France. At dinner, guests can choose either the Paris or the New York menu. Although recommending a single best dish is hard to do, the restaurant’s starters, including oysters from the Brittany coast are a must-try.
Paris New York, 276 Route de Fougères, Rennes, France, ‎+33 2 23 21 15 71

4. Le Baron Rouge

Restaurant, French, European

Le Baron Rouge, hailed as the best gourmet restaurant in Rennes, is located on one of the city’s oldest streets, in the medieval center. The venue features a modern, elegant and warm interior with stone walls, parquet flooring and contemporary black-and-white furniture. Chef Guillaume Delaunay creates deliciously unusual flavor combinations and Le Baron Rouge also offers more than a hundred carefully selected vintage wines.

Le Carré

If you love French cuisine but are equally fond of Italian culture, you can have the best of both worlds at Le Carré. This sophisticated restaurant features brick arches, reproductions of famous Renaissance paintings and pieces of bright red furniture, including a large theater curtain. Try the rabbit with pistachios and beetroot sorbet, the roasted bass filet with sea urchin cream and the light chocolate and coconut mousse.
Le Carré, 34 Place des Lices, Rennes, France, +33 2 23 40 21 21