Méert

"This shop and tea salon is visually arresting, with 18th and 19th century and Louis XVI decor, and many of its original bones. Even the façade dates to the first part of the 18th century. The rows of shelves and display cases full of cakes, waffles (gaufres, the Méert signature), candies, and chocolates recall an old fashioned candy shop. The vanilla gaufre may be the house's signature, but any manner of other exquisite, perfectly prepared pastry are worth attention: financiers, éclairs, lemon tartelettes, Saint-Honoré, and another Lille specialty, the merveilleux. This place makes an impression inside and out." - Lindsey Tramuta, Mary Winston Nicklin

"Sweets are core to the Lillois experience and there’s perhaps no better place to taste that heritage than Méert, the 250-year-old pastry shop and tea salon with 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century architecture in the historic center. Whether you stay for a full tea time or pick up confections to go, pay particular attention to the shop’s signatures: flattened gaufres — waffles filled with sugar and Madagascan vanilla — and the regional claim to fame, the merveilleux, an airy, layered mound of meringue coated with sweet whipped cream and a host of coatings like chocolate flakes and caramelized hazelnuts." - Lindsey Tramuta

Waffles