Lille
EDITION
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Our selectionMama's favorites
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For foodiesMama's favourite addresses
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For culture buffsHistory comes to you
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Chill & shopRelax in the city
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Little extrasOff the beaten track
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Mama Lille's favorite addresses
To tickle your taste buds
From 900m to 2.6 km from Mama
Lille is a gastronomic mecca with a young generation of chefs who reinvent the Flemish classics, but the city has also kept its traditional addresses that everyone loves.Pâtisserie Méert, 25-27 Rue Esquermoise, 59000 Lille / L’Ogre de Carrouselberg, 17 Rue des Vieux Murs, 59800 Lille / Marché de Wazemmes, Place Nouvelle Aventure, 59000 LilleThe favorite addresses of Naima, Our General Manager? The mythical Meert pastry shop with its sublime waffles (which General de Gaulle loved), the Ogre de Carrouselberg and its “Merveilleuses” lemon hazelnut and finally the Wazemmes market where you can find just about everything. Organic fruits and vegetables, great butchers and fishmongers but also street food stalls, a small flea market around the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church. The beating heart of Lille life.
More details Less detailsThe most historic
A stroll in the old Lille
1.6 km from Mama
We don't know enough about it, but Lille is one of the French cities with the richest architecture since it is home to the futuristic masterpieces of Rem Koolhas and Jean Nouvel, exceptional Art Nouveau and industrial buildings and a miraculously preserved Flemish heritage.Vieux-Lille, LilleThe latter illuminates the heart of the old city and you can’t discover Lille without immediately going to the Grand Place. A place of breathtaking beauty with its narrow red brick houses, sculpted facades, the belfry and the old Stock Exchange in the background, which houses old merchants’ houses transformed into bars, restaurants and designer workshops. Close by is a maze of alleys that you’ll stroll through as you fall in love with it. The street of the cherubs and its ornate pilasters, that of the humpbacked cats and its mix of medieval and Art Deco facades or that of the Mint where the museum of the Hospice Comtesse and its 15th century buildings are hidden. Delft ceramics, Flemish furniture, old refectories and pharmacies… A plunge into history, life-size.
More details Less detailsThe most original
Tripostal
200 m from Mama
This spot holds a special place in a city where, you have already seen, there is no shortage of museums.Avenue Willy Brandt, 59000 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 14 47 60The former postal sorting office – converted into an art center as part of “Lille 2004, European Capital of Culture” – has become a major center for creation and is one of a favourite rendezvous for the people of Lille. A space for performances and celebrations where you can come and have a drink, listen to a concert or a reading and discover one of the exhibitions on offer, which are able to seduce as well as surprise. Fans recall with emotion the Perrotin gallery’s anniversary, “the incredible Seoul quick, quick” or “You have to change your life”. A 360° vision of contemporary art that celebrates design throughout the autumn with different installations “Designers of design” and “Sens-fiction”.
More details Less detailsThe most traditional
Au Vieux de la Vieille
French, Belgian, Bar - €€-€€€ - 950m from Mama
The archetype of the old-style bistro in Lille, always stormed by a community of devotees who have made it their unmissable haunt.2-4 rue des Vieux murs, 59000 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 13 81 64Summer on the sunny terrace of the Place aux Oignons, winter in the rooms spread over the two floors – typical and ultra-warm with their wooden tables, their ceramics and their vierpots, the traditional ember pots used for lighting your pipe. The cuisine infuses the traditional spirit of the place with the expected repertoire – chicken with Maroilles, shrimp croquettes, Flemish carbonade, Welsch rarebit with morel mushrooms and pancakes with brown sugar, all accompanied by Saint-Landelin beer or amber Goudale. Fans will continue their discovery with La Vieille France and the Canon d’Or, also owned by Hervé Menuge, born and bred in Lille and in love with the spirit of these estaminets.
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The most local
Bierbuik
1.5 km from Mama
The Flemish estaminet brought up to date by Florent Ladeyn.19 Rue Royale, 59000 LilleYou will find a kitchen with local products and cooked on a wood fire, punctuated with good beers from the region (the Bierbuik brews some beers itself). A warm and lively place, just like the people of the North!
More details Less detailsThe most star-studded
The Joker bar
700m from Mama
Voted best mixology bar and awarded a Michelin star, it is THE cult place for cocktail lovers.29 place Louise de Bettignies, 59800 Lille - +33 (0)6 23 97 64 50You can taste mojito or caipirinha but it would be an insult to François and Agathe (the Joker’s magicians) who offer a new cocktail every day with their selection of alcoholic drinks and home-made infusions. We’ve got lots of favourites but the absolute must remains the Mayagarita, winner of the Patron Perfectionnist 2019 competition. A blend of Patron Silver Tequila, an infusion of orange blossom from Mexico, a composition of thyme honey, propolis and royal jelly, all smoked with thyme wood. Since lockdown, these delights are also available to take away, with all the ingredients prepared in a vacuum pack and tasting tips. Impossible to resist!
contact@jokercocktails.com
More details Less detailsThe most traditional
Au Vieux de la Vieille
French, Belgian, Bar - €€-€€€ - 950m from Mama
The archetype of the old-style bistro in Lille, always stormed by a community of devotees who have made it their unmissable haunt.2-4 rue des Vieux murs, 59000 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 13 81 64Summer on the sunny terrace of the Place aux Oignons, winter in the rooms spread over the two floors – typical and ultra-warm with their wooden tables, their ceramics and their vierpots, the traditional ember pots used for lighting your pipe. The cuisine infuses the traditional spirit of the place with the expected repertoire – chicken with Maroilles, shrimp croquettes, Flemish carbonade, Welsch rarebit with morel mushrooms and pancakes with brown sugar, all accompanied by Saint-Landelin beer or amber Goudale. Fans will continue their discovery with La Vieille France and the Canon d’Or, also owned by Hervé Menuge, born and bred in Lille and in love with the spirit of these estaminets.
More details Less detailsThe most contemporary
Le rouge Barre
French, European, Healthy - €€€€ - 1.3 km from Mama
Paneled ceilings, waxed parquet floors and walls of dark red brick mixed with white, typical of the old houses in the north...50 Rue de la Halle 59800 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 67 08 84It is in this very pure atmosphere that we savor the cuisine of Steven Ramon (a former employee of La Laiterie in Lambersart) who decided to open his own restaurant, with a menu as sensitive as it is contemporary. On the first day of autumn, we enjoyed a delicate meal of edible crab refreshed with a mixture of beetroot and candied lemon, followed by poultry cooked to the millimeter, accompanied by a mixture of chestnuts and squash, all fresh. You may also be tempted by the Rouge Barre menu, a perfect expression of all Steven’s know-how. Certainly THE restaurant on the up.
More details Less details -
The most original
Tripostal
200 m from Mama
This spot holds a special place in a city where, you have already seen, there is no shortage of museums.Avenue Willy Brandt, 59000 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 14 47 60The former postal sorting office – converted into an art center as part of “Lille 2004, European Capital of Culture” – has become a major center for creation and is one of a favourite rendezvous for the people of Lille. A space for performances and celebrations where you can come and have a drink, listen to a concert or a reading and discover one of the exhibitions on offer, which are able to seduce as well as surprise. Fans recall with emotion the Perrotin gallery’s anniversary, “the incredible Seoul quick, quick” or “You have to change your life”. A 360° vision of contemporary art that celebrates design throughout the autumn with different installations “Designers of design” and “Sens-fiction”.
More details Less detailsThe most secret place
Villa Cavrois
8.7 km from Mama
We might as well admit from the very beginning, we have a passion for this sublime house, all the more so since it almost disappeared after being inexplicably abandoned and even vandalized.60 Avenue du Président John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 59170 Croix - +33 (0)3 20 73 47 12Fortunately, the State acquired it in the 2000s and has since completed a major restoration work, giving new life to this modernist masterpiece commissioned by Paul Cavrois – a major industrialist from the north, from the star architect of the Mallet-Stevens period.
The creator of the Villa Noailles wrote his manifesto of modern life there. A residence equipped with all the avant-garde comfort of the time: an elevator, central heating and even dimmers; all thought out in a contemporary aesthetic, with huge bay windows, an open kitchen and the iconic furniture signed Jean Prouvé. Also worth seeing are the gardens designed by Mallet-Stevens. The architect designed a poetic and secret wooden path that winds its way through the trees, here and there revealing sumptuous perspectives of the villa.More details Less detailsThe most original
Museum of the Pool of Roubaix
10.4 km from Mama
That was just over 100 years ago. The mayor of Roubaix launched the construction of a swimming pool as humanistic as it is spectacular: "the most beautiful in France". The place lives up to his ambition.23 rue de l’espérance, 59100 Roubaix - +33 (0)3 20 69 23 60Imagine Art Deco architecture with a 50-metre Olympic pool, lit by immense stained glass windows where the sun reflects at dawn and at dusk. The whole opened onto a garden, a rose garden and shower baths – the place was then intended to provide bathing facilities for workers without running water at home. The swimming pool inexplicably fell into oblivion in the 1970s, only to come back to life in 2001 with the rehabilitation of the architect Jean-Pierre Philippon (already at work with the former Orsay railway station in Paris) who transformed it into a museum. Its immediate success has never wavered. We come here to admire the breathtakingly beautiful space, to discover the collections of paintings (19th and 20th century), ceramics and textiles, but also to experience the effervescence of this museum, which has been run by Bruno Gaudichon since its creation. A personality as warm as he is erudite who likes to create surprise by mixing arts and organizing happenings and concerts. The singer Donovan accompanied an exhibition on English painting, the soprano Agnès Obel performed at the exhibition devoted to the “Golden Century of Danish Painting”.
More details Less details -
The most historic
A stroll in the old Lille
1.6 km from Mama
We don't know enough about it, but Lille is one of the French cities with the richest architecture since it is home to the futuristic masterpieces of Rem Koolhas and Jean Nouvel, exceptional Art Nouveau and industrial buildings and a miraculously preserved Flemish heritage.Vieux-Lille, LilleThe latter illuminates the heart of the old city and you can’t discover Lille without immediately going to the Grand Place. A place of breathtaking beauty with its narrow red brick houses, sculpted facades, the belfry and the old Stock Exchange in the background, which houses old merchants’ houses transformed into bars, restaurants and designer workshops. Close by is a maze of alleys that you’ll stroll through as you fall in love with it. The street of the cherubs and its ornate pilasters, that of the humpbacked cats and its mix of medieval and Art Deco facades or that of the Mint where the museum of the Hospice Comtesse and its 15th century buildings are hidden. Delft ceramics, Flemish furniture, old refectories and pharmacies… A plunge into history, life-size.
More details Less detailsThe most stylish
Emotions
1.2 km from Mama
A city elected world capital of design has to bring together real flagships in this field.7 Rue Thiers, 59800 Lille - +33 (0)3 20 57 99 01Installed in a former industrial architecture printing house, Emotions is one of the must-see addresses where enthusiasts come with the assurance of finding the most emblematic pieces, from the 1950s to the present day. Cassina, Moroso, Poltrona Frau, Edra… The fine flower of design is represented and the place offers a catalog giving access to 70 referenced collections. You come here to buy and take a look – under the guidance of salespeople with real expertise who present each piece in detail – from behind the scenes of its manufacture to the portrait of its author.
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Go green
Vauban’s citadel
2.1 km from Mama
Admire the fortress with its high walls and incredible sculptures of fleurs-de-lis or sun blowing on the clouds.Parc de la Citadelle, Voie Piétonne du Bois de la Deûle, 59130 LilleBut this visit is above all a pretext for a breath of fresh air. The discovery of the zoo, an ultra-poetic stroll in the surrounding woods or a walk along the path that runs along the river Deule, on foot or by bike. Sometimes you can even rent a canoe.
More details Less detailsWalk around with your nose in the air
Street art course
Several guided tours to discover
Medieval capital, Lille is also THE city of Street Art.To discover the most spectacular works, you have to go to the Saint-Sauveur train station, in the districts of Moulins, Lille-Fives or in the rue du Faubourg des Postes and spot the gables of buildings and the iron curtains of the stores, favorite spaces for graffiti artists. Our favorites? Mimi the Clown, Mister P or Jef Aerosol who signs his works with the stencil of a small red arrow and drew portrait of local people in a 130 sqm fresco on the pediment of the Maison Folie in Wazemmes. Great art!
More details Less detailsMama Lille's favorite addresses
To tickle your taste buds
From 900m to 2.6 km from Mama
Lille is a gastronomic mecca with a young generation of chefs who reinvent the Flemish classics, but the city has also kept its traditional addresses that everyone loves.Pâtisserie Méert, 25-27 Rue Esquermoise, 59000 Lille / L’Ogre de Carrouselberg, 17 Rue des Vieux Murs, 59800 Lille / Marché de Wazemmes, Place Nouvelle Aventure, 59000 LilleThe favorite addresses of Naima, Our General Manager? The mythical Meert pastry shop with its sublime waffles (which General de Gaulle loved), the Ogre de Carrouselberg and its “Merveilleuses” lemon hazelnut and finally the Wazemmes market where you can find just about everything. Organic fruits and vegetables, great butchers and fishmongers but also street food stalls, a small flea market around the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church. The beating heart of Lille life.
More details Less details
Lille mood

Life Is a Long Quiet River
