Hotel Atlantic, Restaurant La Liegeoise - Alain Delpierre, Wimereux

A favourite place of my parents for the last 15 years and finally I got treated to a weekend in July. The hotel is lovely - we had a room with a seaview which meant tons of fresh sea air in the morning and a good view for people watching while getting ready! Lovely bar with friendly staff and plenty of seating inside and outside on the seafront. But it’s the restaurant that really stands out. The food literally could not have been nicer. Every one of the 7 courses was perfect - could not fault them at all. The fish was fresh and cooked in different and interesting ways, with portions just the right size. The desserts are delicate and pretty and lovely. The dining room itself is old school posh restaurant but not stuffy and has a whole wall of windows overlooking the sea, so you can appreciate the gorgeous sunset while you’re sipping fine wines and cognac.

What can I say? I have never eaten so well!

The Hotel Atlantic is an unassuming part of the seafront promenade in Wimereux, a small seaside resort about 30 minutes out of Calais. It’s worth the drive. This is not a 5 star luxury hotel, but yet the rooms are really nice, bright and with a lovely sea view. They are also furnished with flat screen TV (which gets the BBC!), so you can watch really bad films about Jodie Foster finding snakes on a plane, or something. Anyway, this is not interesting.

What is interesting, is the incredible restaurant downstairs. Situated on the first floor, you get a lovely sea view as you settle into your chair for what can only be described as a marathon. Order the 'Promenade en Mer’, let them choose the wine, and away you go.

I think my photos probably do this more justice than I ever could by simple words alone, but it really was fantastic. Around 7 courses, although I lost count, and a wine to match each. Everything was perfect. I’ve never eaten fois gras and fish together before… but now I have! Alain Delpierre had a wander out of the kitchen at the close, and I warmly congratulated him on curing my eating disorder. OK, I don’t really have an eating disorder, but if you did, this would definitely be the place to come.

One of my favourite meals of all time.