Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Eating
L'HIPPOCAMPE €€
( 02 31 89 98 36; 46 quai Ste-Catherine; menus €18-34)
This spot is equally great
for al fresco dining in the warmer months and dining inside in the cosy interior, a
melange of old and new. The food is of very high quality and the evening dinner
menus are surprisingly affordable.
Modern French
L'ABSINTHE €€
( 02 31 89 39 00; 10 quai de la Quarantaine; menus €28-64)
Facing the Vieux
Port, this well-regarded restaurant serves up sumptuous, sophisticated French
cuisine - made with seasonally fresh produce - in the finest
gastronomique
tradi-
tion.
Traditional French
Detour:
Camembert Country
Some of the most enduring names in the pungent world of French
fromage
come from
Normandy, including
Pont L'Évêque
,
Livarot
and, most famous of all,
Camembert
, all
of which are named after towns south of Honfleur, on or near the D579.
The invention of Camembert is generally credited to Marie Harel, who was supposedly
given the secret of soft cheesemaking by an abbot from Brie, on the run from Revolution-
ary mobs in 1790. The distinctive round wooden boxes in which Camembert is encased
have been around since 1890; they were designed by a local engineer by the name of
Monsieur Ridel to protect the soft disk during long-distance travel.
If you're interested in seeing how the cheese is made, you can take a guided tour of the
Président Farm
( 02 33 36 06 60;
www.fermepresident.com
; adult/child €5/2;
10am-noon & 2-6pm Jun-Aug, by reservation Mar-May, Sep & Oct)
, an early-19th-century
farm restored by Président, one of the region's largest Camembert producers. It's in the
centre of the town of Camembert, which is about 60km south of Honfleur.
Information
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