The Kouign-Amman Taste Test
One must arrive to Place des Lices with an appetite.
The curiously-shaped square, once the setting for jousting tournaments, is the first place you’ll visit if you enter Vannes through Porte Saint Vincent and the shops of Rue Saint Vincent, and we recommend you have a quick stop to indulge in Brittany’s sweetest treat.
We had the good fortune to order a Kouign-Amman, the regional pastry and a calorie-busting work of buttery glazed goodness, on our first day of this trip, and one half of Along Dusty Roads insisted that we have at least one each day before the boat back to Blighty.
Our noses led us toward François (maps) on the first brief, rainy visit to Vannes, where the sweet buttery smell wafts out all day and we bought a box (that didn’t last thirty minutes) of a fresh Kouign-Amman and an exquisite version of the dense Gateaux Breton.
However, an Instagram follower who lives in Nantes insisted that we really should have gone to La Huche à Pain (maps), where her family stop to buy pastries any time they’re off to Île aux Moines.
So, naturally, in the interests of science and research, we had to go back.
Armed with this knowledge dear reader, you can now arrive and know exactly what to do. Both these bakeries are found in Place des Lices, almost exactly opposite one another, so do a taste test for yourself (or grab a box to take with you), and let us know which was your favourite.
Aside from indulgent pastries, Place des Lices is also the spot to come for food generally in Vannes. It’s got Halles des Lice, the permanent indoors market (open Monday to Saturday, 8am-2pm), as well as the Marché de Vannes taking over on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We’d make a point of visiting around this if it fits your itinerary, with stalls selling Brittany’s renowned oysters and seafood, cheeses, ciders, and all manner of other local produce and goodies.
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