Along the coast you’re spoilt for choice with seafood such as prawns, scallops and various fish. One foodstuff the northerners take really seriously is their frites. All over the region you’ll find baraques à frites (in chalets, caravans and sheds) vying to offer you the very best chips – crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Purists insist you should use the Bintje variety of potato. Chefs disagree whether it’s better to cook them in beef fat or vegetable oil. Last year, La Friterie Mestré in Lille even won the annual frites world championship.
Cheeses punch above their weight here, too. Aside from the aforementioned Maroilles, there is Bergues and the very stinky Vieux-Lille (or Puant, as they nickname it). For dessert, don’t miss the waffles (gaufres) in their various forms, especially the Méert waffles which have become a local institution.
When it comes to liquid refreshment, this far north it’s beer rather than wine which dominates. As well as the more established breweries – Pelforth is perhaps the best known -there are over 100 micro-brewers across the department, creating all sorts of artisanal beers: blonde, ambrée, noire… there’s something for everyone.
From France Today Magazine