My spouse and I visited Le Garde Manger for drinks and
snacks on a Saturday afternoon in late September 2017. The restaurant is open daily
from 10:00 am until 9:30 pm, providing continuous service from opening until
closing. (Many local restaurants close between the meals of lunch and dinner,
so if you eat at non-standard French mealtimes, this restaurant will surely
appeal to you.) We stayed nearby at the Villa Lara, and it was less than a 3-minute
walk to the restaurant.
Le Garde Manger is located on the street level of the main medieval
building of the Reine Mathilde hotel. (The restaurant name means “Keeper of the
Food”.) You can dine indoors in rooms with exposed stone walls and wood-beamed
ceilings (either in the more casual bar room or in the more formal dining room),
or out on the large terrace covered by a retractable awning and surrounded by
seasonal foliage, where you can enjoy the view of the Cathedral spires and near
the Tapestry Museum. One tiny table is positioned on the bridge over the Aure
River, granting its patrons a view of peaceful village life.
The restaurant serves traditional French cuisine. Because we
visited in late afternoon between our meals of lunch and dinner, we purchased
only a few rounds of drinks and one order of frites, but its menu offers
something for everyone from burgers to more formal composed entrees.
We savored our afternoon sitting on the terrace at Le Garde
Manger on our last day in charming Bayeux.
