Ouistreham: La Mare Ô Poissons

The edgy new cooking that’s making news in Normandy isn’t just an urban phenomenon. Today you’ll find terrifically inventive food in some of the most pastoral corners of the province. After training at Guy Savoy, Lasserre and Ledoyen in Paris, Benoît Delbasserue has won a reputation as an inventive fish cook at La Mare Ô Poissons in Ouistreham, not far from the D-Day landing beaches. This stylish modern dining room is a great place for lunch too, and dishes like fresh sardines in a soy-pineapple vinaigrette, sole meunière with dried fruit, and Livarot ice cream show off Delbasserue’s technical talent and culinary imagination.

68 rue Emile Herbline, Ouistreham. 02.31.37.53.05. Menus €22 (lunch), €29–€37 (dinner); à la carte €50. website

Prices are approximate, per person without wine.

Originally published in the March 2011 issue of France Today