Hi. This my first post. We will hopefully be visiting Rennes and Saint-Malo in early September.
I have looked at countless restaurants in Rennes and few in Saint Malo.
The reason I picked this area was to eat my favorite Kouign Amann and shellfish but noticed that neither one of this two places offers a great one!
Since we don’t like to eat late I was hoping to find a more substantial place for lunch.
I have reservation for Passages and Restaurant La Petite Ourse for a Wednesday and Thursday.
I need a place for Saturday either in Rennes or Saint Malo and same for Sunday.
Also any great Galette/crepe place?
I haven’t found one yet.
Our favorite restaurant when we visited the Saint Malo area was La Table Breizh Café in Cancale. It’s not an easy reservation to get, but when I just checked there seemed to be a few openings. Don’t miss it, if at all possible. Their menu has lots of amazing seafood.
Of course you can also have lunch or dinner at the more casual Breizh Café, which is all about crèpes. And I don’t think you can walk a couple of blocks in Saint Malo without finding a pastry shop selling kouign amann.
Kouign amann is better in its region of origin, i.e. the South Finistère, with a stress on the cities of Douarnenez, Fouesnant and Quimper, radiating Southeast to the Morbihan.
It is not native to the North coast of Brittany, let alone Saint-Malo. Actually there is a subregion in the Northwestern tip of Brittany (Les Abers) where they have a local version, very different from the classic kouign amann. Very thin and flat, baked on a tray.
Aside from that local version, there are two types of kouign amann: the traditional one, based on bread dough, and the newer one, lighter and crispier, based on croissant dough. You’ll find that one at Boulangerie Richard in Concarneau, or in Riec-sur-Belon.
I don’t know a lot about Rennes, but in Saint-Malo, go to Le Bistrot du Rocher, in the intra-muros.
For crêpes and galettes, just head to the Atelier de la Crêpe, on quai Duguay-Trouin. It is the training restaurant for Breizh Café and I’ve always found the buckwheat crêpes to be the best in town.
Seconding Carole, I would go to La Table Breizh Café in Cancale any time, but I wouldn’t overlook the original Breizh Café location, just below. And Le Phare, right next door, for fresh seafood and particularly crabs.
All the crêpes I are in Rennes and Quimper were good ones. It’s been too long for my recs to be up-to-date. I was able to eat well in Brittany without doing much research beforehand.
@Carmenere, in 2018, before a trip to Bretagne, you recommended that we have lunch at Chez La Mère Pourcel in Dinan, situated in a beautiful 15th century building “en pan de bois”. Our lunch of course was superb. Last year while traveling through Bretagne once again, we stayed a night in Dinan. While taking a walk through the town, we discovered the sad and tragic news that Chez La Mère Pourcel had almost completely burned down in 2019. However, the town plans to rebuild the portion that is destroyed. There are two photos below. The first is of the original building when we had lunch there in 2018. The second photo shows what is left of the old building, with a large sign-board describing what happened the night of June 22, 2019, the critical archeological and architectural importance of the building (and the restaurant) and how the town of Dinan is determined to effect “une reconstruction 'a l’identique”, as was done with Notre Dame. I’m sure you are aware of all this, but it was a big shock to us.
Thanks @sfcarole. No, I wasn’t aware of all that. Ouch, that was harsh. Fortunately, when “reconstructions à l’identique” are planned, they’re usually very well done. Let’s hope for the best.
For that kind of reconstruction generally begins some time after it has been announced. As of today, it should begin shortly and the new version of that 15th- century house should be finished within a few years.
Thank you all.
Our hotel is actually in Rennes but definitely taking the train to Saint Malo one day.
We have no car and looks like it will take over one hour from saint Malo to get to Cancale.
Maybe do one day in Saint Malo and another in Cancale.
@sfcarole thank you for recommending La Table Breizh Café.
I will look into it.
Thank you @Carmenere I have already checked Le Bistrot du Rocher a couple of weeks ago.
I will definitely consider Atelier de la Crêpe and Le Phare.
As far as kouign amann I love the croissant version. Had the best one from Alma bakery in Madrid last year. What I meant was all the famous ones are far from Rennes, where we are staying.
