Hôtel AKENA Nantes

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.

Overlooking the little Canal de Goulaine, this white building with a contemporary interior boasts a lovely garden terrace for alfresco dining in fine weather. Having cut his teeth abroad, chef Mathieu Corbineau bridges the gap between traditional recipes and modern influences: braised pork shoulder, thyme jus and vegetable tarte Tatin; fillet of pollock, shellfish marinière and a medley of Nantes carrots. Affordable lunch set menu and a wine list that zooms in on Muscadet.

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

These cadets are brothers who greet diners in a trendy hip interior of 1950s inspiration. Charles and Tristan Bernabé cherry-pick outstanding veggies from local market gardeners and the finest fish from nearby fish markets. They consummately juggle with current trends and their classical training, grandmother's Breton culture, and even their father's pied-noir origins. All of which without ever compromising on the clarity of the dishes or the flavour of the sauces. Examples include cockles from Morbihan, tuberous parsley and black garlic; rack of veal, potatoes and shallots; baked apple, sweet

Trained under Michel Troisgros, Ludovic Pouzelgues is one of the faces of the city's fine dining revival. A stone's throw from the famous Machines de l'Île, he heads up this restaurant with a pleasing, comfortable and contemporary interior. Here, the finest produce reigns supreme (the fish markets of La Turballe and Le Croisic are nearby); it is prepared with precision and inventiveness to create surprise menus based on what the market has to offer. Modern cuisine that is full of personality: a real success.

A stone's throw from the Cité des Congrès events venue and the lively rue Fouré, this concrete-clad neo-bistro has an industrial edge. It is run by a couple made up of chef Ruddy Maisonneuve (P'tite Pomme is his nickname) and Juliette Jovelin (front of house). Trained as a pastry chef and previously sous-chef at Lulu Rouget, the chef serves ultra-fresh seasonal cuisine, elevated by local produce – some of the vegetables are supplied by his brother, a farmer and baker. Refined and precise, his vibrant dishes are testament to the work of a true professional: crispy mussels and courgettes with ho

On the banks of the Loire, this restaurant is set in a pretty townhouse dating back to the late 19C. It has been proudly serving its guests delicious food in an elegant, cosy decor for 75 years – so you could say it's an institution. The current chef uses the finest local produce in traditional regional cuisine: frogs' legs with parsley butter or a herb sauce; local fish (pike, pike-perch and sea bass) with beurre blanc; golden-brown calf sweetbreads with a morel cream. A smiling welcome awaits you, as does a large shady terrace surrounded by a bucolic garden planted with colourful flowerbeds.