Restaurant Reviews: Bistrot Les Canailles in Le Touquet

The stylish seaside resort town of Le Touquet on the English Channel, just south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas-de-Calais, has long been as popular with travellers from the United Kingdom as it is with holidaymakers and weekenders from the north of France, for whom it’s a favourite local getaway.

Developed as a resort from 1882 onwards, it has many grand bourgeois villas built in the Anglo-Norman Touquettoise style, distinctive with their steep gabled roofs and half-timbering details. After a dip in favour during the late 20th century, brought on mainly by the increasing ease of access to more reliably sunny Mediterranean destinations, the resort is now enjoying a new wave of interest as younger generations come back here to take long walks on its wide, flat beaches, to play golf, to wine and dine, and generally to relax. Parisians are also coming back to Le Touquet, certainly to some degree due to the fact that this resort town is often in the news as a frequent vacation spot of President Emmanuel Macron, whose wife’s family has a home here.

A sure sign of this new stylishness is the charming little bistrot à vins Les Canailles, which serves a delicious market-driven menu of contemporary French bistro dishes prepared by chef Delphine Saint-Léger.