Hôtel Le Kennedy, Clermont-Ferrand, The Originals Relais

Bang in the city centre, on the first floor of Saint Pierre Market, this swanky restaurant enjoys a lofty location. The stylish venue sports a series of beautifully appointed contemporary dining rooms and exquisite tableware. Chef Arkadiusz Zuchmanski, of Polish extraction, decided to move to France to fortify a vocation that took root in the kitchen of his forebears. He confesses an unbridled passion for noble ingredients and for Auvergne, which reminds him of the landscapes of his home city, Drzewica. The focus is on visually striking plating and honest, simply crafted ingredients, such as f

Rather than a summons to a hearing, this restaurant near the courthouse extends an invitation to foodies! Jean-Claude Leclerc has been running this popular Clermont-Ferrand restaurant for over two decades. The chef delivers his balanced and assured take on seasonal classical cuisine in an elegant contemporary setting. The dishes are unapologetically indulgent, as illustrated by the beef tournedos with Périgueux sauce and melt-in-the-mouth potatoes with Cantal cheese, or the sea bass with gently braised savoy cabbage and black truffle.

"The Auvergne I want you to meet is the one we encounter and pick every morning in our mountains, meadows and forests." The words of local lad Xavier Beaudiment are far from platitudes. Le Pré celebrates the quintessence of its region through cuisine that is both instinctive and poetic. Frog’s legs, pike, foie gras and rabbit are lovingly and enthusiastically crafted and paired with some 200 plants and wild herbs picked at the foot of the volcanoes or in the establishment’s own herb garden. All of which is washed down with a knock-out wine list.

From the upper reaches of town, this attractive hotel dating from the 1930s broadcasts a non-stop resounding tribute to the electro-magnetic waves and the triode vacuum tube that made the invention of the talkies and the wireless possible. Its Art Deco decor has lost none of its splendour – mosaic flooring, decorative wrought iron and a marriage of glass and mirrors. In the kitchen, chef Wilfrid Chaplain mixes influences from his native Normandy and his adopted Auvergne, drawing out their gentle, little-explored harmonies. Technically proficient, he creates ambitious, subtle and delicate cuisi

Hugues Maisonneuve is at the helm of this vintage bistro that sports a trendy, weathered look, soft lighting and a pleasant patio. The chef orchestrates a seasonal, market-fresh lunchtime menu, with a more upmarket slant courtesy of noble produce come the evening: warm oysters, calf’s sweetbread, scallops… Everything looks as good as it tastes.

Located in the historic town, this revamped bistro, which sports a smart, cosy interior appointed in midnight blue velvet seats and matching walls, sings an ode to Italy. The youthful chef signs an uncluttered, spontaneous Italian-inspired score in a bistronomic register: tonnato of courgettes; confit of pork belly, orzotto of spinach and pistachio pesto; pan di Limone, creamy lemon and raspberry mascarpone. Reasonably priced concise menu at lunchtime, more ambitious in the evenings.

In this pleasantly fashionable bistro in a pedestrian street by Place de Jaude and St-Pierre-les-Minimes Church, Valentin Chambonnière concocts gutsy, up-to-date fare, with a hint of nostalgia and based on seasonal ingredients. The sensibly priced menus are lip smackingly enticing: grilled loin of veal, garlic foam, millefeuille of potatoes and fresh tomme cheese; steamed Atlantic cod, beurre noisette, creamy celery and curry foam, followed by grapefruit-laced iced parfait, rose- and elderflower-flavoured ganache. Splendid cocktails and spirits. Warm, spot-on welcome and service.