Chateau De La Moriniere

This modest establishment at a remove from the city centre, whose name is a nod to its past vocation as a weaver's house, boasts an inviting interior of exposed stone and wood panelling – the perfect backdrop for contemporary cuisine made with top-notch seasonal ingredients. The short menu is beautifully presented and original, with some unexpected combinations, such as pollock with a helianthus medley, grapefruit and watercress sauce. The food is truly delicious, and that goes for the desserts, too. Don't miss out!

This restaurant near Angers, in the heart of the Coteaux-du-Layon vineyards, is well worth your attention. It is the haunt of talented David Guitton, who hails from Loire Atlantique and who has trained under top chefs all over the world from the United States and Britain to Monaco. There is no à la carte menu here, but a voluntarily concise offering that reverently respects the seasons. David sources his ingredients from small, local producers, rustling up dishes that err towards minimalist so that the flavour can take centre stage. Regional wines, including the estate’s organic production, ta

In his contemporary and elegant restaurant laid out around a lovely patio, Xavier Giraudet creates top-drawer modern cuisine with a focus on vegetables. The various set menus feature local and seasonal produce (sometimes even from the family vegetable garden), expertly cooked and full of flavour. In season, don't miss their exemplary rendition of hare à la royale à la Antonin Carême, a classic dish! A bravura performance.

Le Petit Serrant, an 18C manor house located at the confluence of the River Maine and River Loire, is the elegant setting for this restaurant, where diners come as much for the cuisine as for the charm of the location. Romain Zarazaga, a chef trained by Laurent Petit, Emmanuel Renaut and the Troisgros, serves a wonderful array of dishes that are perfectly in tune with the times. His masterful jus and sauces are another standout feature of his cooking – for example, line-caught sea bass confit accompanied by a butter-based fish stock with Domaine Mosse vermouth. The charcoal-grilled squab with

The fine dining restaurant of this charming hotel has two plush, stylish dining areas, where guests savour elegant and appetising cuisine that reflects the zeitgeist. Influenced by the region's terroir, the dishes showcase the chef's craftsmanship, particularly in the realm of sauces and jus. The wine list features very reasonable entry-level prices and a fine selection of regional tipples. The service team is unfailingly warm and affable. Brasserie Constance is a more relaxed venue serving traditional cuisine in an atmosphere of simplicity and conviviality.

This greenhouse with timber arches devoted to the goddess Freia is perched on top of a contemporary building. It is the perfect place to grow a garden of aromatic herbs and berries and to admire the panoramic view of Nantes. After the success of Vacarme, Sarah Mainguy crafts poetic and creative cuisine, mainly plant based and scattered with Scandinavian and Asian touches. Each dish is a treasure trove of brainwaves and delicious sauces – cases in point being the white asparagus with a vegetable seaweed XO sauce, or periwinkles with crisp green peas, topped with a glazed gwell snow.

In this warm buzzy eatery, chef Romain Bonnet crafts creative surprise menus of Asian inspiration: the ‘omija’ is a Korean fruit, known as the five-flavour berry due to its unique combination of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and pungent flavours. Bonnet is unswerving in his dedication to taste, illustrated by green ‘kombujime’ asparagus flanked by sesame-flavoured ice cream, or squid from la Turballe marinated in Korean pepper. Virtuoso craftsmanship, gutsy stocks and addictive, big-boned sauces. The mainly organic produce is painstakingly sourced (common shrimp from la Cotinière on Oléron Island