L'Hostellerie du Château de Bricquebec

This charming old seaside villa, now a hotel-restaurant, boasts a prime location a stone's throw from Barneville's expansive beach and views of the Channel Islands in the distance. Diners are well looked after in the spacious dining area that exudes a holiday ambience. The concise menu, which changes daily – freshness guaranteed! – features precise, straightforward dishes. We enjoyed soft-boiled egg and smoked herring, hake in a butter emulsion with smoked herring roe, and a seasonal dessert pairing strawberry and mint. The set menu, available at lunchtime and in the evening, is an absolute st

Théo Hervy, from Cherbourg in Normandy, and Fanny Hervy, an authentic Catalan from the Pyrénées-Orientales, have merged their regions – Nor(mandy) + Cat(alonia) – in the name of their shared passion for good food. The lunch set menu, which is simple but very well executed using quality ingredients from the region and surrounding area, is unbeatable value: cauliflower, herring; whiting, mashed potatoes, vegetables and sorrel cream; raspberry tartlet and strudel. It's not until the more ambitious dinner that the couple combine ingredients from Normandy and Catalonia. In this compact restaurant,

A steadfast champion of his native Manche, intrepid chef, Philippe Hardy, boasts stints in prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants and in the kitchen of the French ambassador in Sofia. It was there that he met his wife, Nadia, a former prima ballerina. Together they have transformed this girls' boarding school into a peaceful boutique hotel-restaurant surrounded by a flower and cottage garden planted with farmer seeds. The delicately crafted, seafood-led menu of wild fish and shellfish can be matched with tea-wine-food or tea-sake-food pairings, even a Gong fu cha tea ceremony.

If you have something special to celebrate, this marble-fronted restaurant inside The Club Hotel & Spa is the place to come – and cocktails in the bar are all part of the experience. It’s a chic place, where bright linen-clad tables stand out against dimly lit, dark wood walls. Eye-catching dishes offer natural, well-balanced flavours and an occasional hint of playfulness, while the kitchen clearly understands how to use techniques to enhance rather than overshadow the fine produce. Go for the tasting menu inspired by the chef's travels, with accompanying wines.

With its panoramic view of the sea and the port, this local institution on the Cotentin peninsula faces the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. In a pleasant contemporary interior, you will sample modern, elegant cuisine that shines the limelight on Normandy produce, with a weakness for local seafood, illustrated by pollock, fennel (confit and roasted) and a lemon-flavoured butter emulsion.

In this picturesque village bistro complete with a wine shop, chef Lionel Cotentin (what a coincidence!) draws on his strong culinary background and premium local produce – organic market garden vegetables, small-scale fishing – to whip up a concise, seasonal menu. The cuisine is modern, meticulous and forthright: home-smoked mackerel, stracciatella and basil-flavoured olive oil sauce; loin of ling, Carnaroli risotto and beurre blanc. Cheerful, spot on service and sensible prices.

This fine stone house with a shale roof has an undeniable charm. Inside, the chef cooks up modern cuisine with a dose of creativity, out of which he devises several courses according to his whims. The ingredients are exclusively from Normandy – not least fish, vegetables, wild herbs and flowers. The dishes are precise and on point, as are the food and drink pairings (the drinks, too, are local). The restaurant has a breathtaking view of the sea and coastline, as do the delightful guestrooms – it would be a shame not to book an overnight stay!