Restaurant in Angers, France
Angers' top table. Book for occasions.
Lait Thym Sel is Angers' only Michelin-starred restaurant, holding one star in both 2024 and 2025 with a Michelin Remarkable designation. At €€€€, the creative tasting-menu format from chefs Remo and Mario Capitaneo is the strongest special-occasion choice in the city. Book six to eight weeks out minimum — demand consistently outpaces supply.
Yes — and if you are planning a celebration dinner in the Loire Valley, this is the restaurant to book first. Lait Thym Sel at 17 Rue Boisnet has held a Michelin star continuously since at least 2024, earned the Michelin Remarkable designation, and carries a Google rating of 4.8 across 394 reviews. For a creative tasting-menu restaurant at the €€€€ price point in a mid-sized French city, that combination of critical recognition and consistent guest satisfaction is a strong signal. The question is not whether it is good — it is whether it fits your occasion and your appetite for that kind of meal.
Lait Thym Sel is the project of Remo and Mario Capitaneo, a pair whose names appear together across every source tied to this address. A sibling kitchen team running a single Michelin-starred room in provincial France has a structural precedent worth noting: it tends to produce a kitchen where the creative brief and the execution belong to the same conversation, rather than being divided between a concept chef and a brigade following orders. The result, in cases like Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona, is food that feels coherent rather than committee-built. Whether the Capitaneos achieve that same coherence is something only a seat at the table can confirm, but the 4.8 rating across nearly 400 guests suggests the kitchen is delivering on its promise repeatedly.
The cuisine classification is Creative , a broad label in French fine dining that signals a departure from classical plating conventions without committing to any single regional or thematic identity. At €€€€, you should expect a multi-course tasting menu format. That format is not incidental: it is the entire argument of a restaurant like this. If you want à la carte flexibility or a shorter meal, the format will work against you. If you want the full arc of a chef-driven meal built around a single seasonal through-line, it is exactly right. For the special-occasion diner who wants to hand over the decision-making and be taken somewhere, this is the format to choose.
The editorial angle worth pressing on here is what proximity to the kitchen does to this kind of meal. At a restaurant where two chefs share both the creative and physical labour of the kitchen, counter seating , when available , gives you direct sight lines to the people responsible for every plate. This is not a theatrical flourish; it changes the information density of the meal. You see pacing decisions made in real time, plating choices adjusted, the rhythm of a small kitchen coordinating on a busy service. At restaurants like Arpège in Paris or Flocons de Sel in Megève, counter or kitchen-adjacent seating is consistently rated as the more immersive option by returning guests. Whether Lait Thym Sel offers a formal counter configuration is not confirmed in the venue data, but if you are booking a special occasion here, it is worth asking at the time of reservation whether any kitchen-facing seats are available. For a two-person celebration in particular, that position tends to be the most memorable in a room this size.
Booking difficulty is rated Hard. At a one-Michelin-star room with consistent high ratings in a city without a deep bench of comparable fine-dining options, demand is structurally higher than supply. Plan to book several weeks out minimum; for Saturday evenings or specific celebration dates, six to eight weeks is a more realistic window. No online booking link or phone number is in the public venue record, so your first step is to search the restaurant's own website or check a reservation platform that covers Loire Valley fine dining.
The address , 17 Rue Boisnet, 49100 Angers , places it in the city centre. Angers is accessible by TGV from Paris Montparnasse in roughly 90 minutes, which makes this a viable day-trip destination for a celebration meal if you are already in Paris. For context on what else Angers offers around the meal, see our full Angers restaurants guide, our full Angers hotels guide, and our full Angers wineries guide , the Loire Valley wine context around a meal at this level is worth planning for.
Dress code is not specified in the venue data, but a Michelin-starred creative tasting menu at €€€€ in France carries an implied expectation of smart dress. Arriving underdressed at this price point risks breaking the atmosphere you are paying for.
Within Angers, Lait Thym Sel is at the leading of the fine-dining tier and has no direct competitor at the same price and recognition level. Sens sits in the Creative category at €€€ and is the closest alternative in terms of format, but sits one price tier below and without Michelin recognition. If the star matters to your occasion , and for milestone celebrations, it often does , Lait Thym Sel is the only address in Angers that delivers it. Autour d'un Cep at €€ and Bouillon Baron at € are strong options if you want a good meal without the tasting-menu commitment or the €€€€ spend. For a relaxed pre-dinner drink or a lower-key follow-up evening, the Angers bars guide is worth consulting alongside your booking.
In the broader Loire Valley and French regional fine-dining context, Lait Thym Sel fits the pattern of quietly serious one-star kitchens operating below the radar of the Paris media circuit , comparable in ambition, if not in scale, to restaurants like Bras in Laguiole or Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern, which have built reputations over decades in non-capital cities. Holding a star in Angers for consecutive years with ratings this consistent is a meaningful credential, not an accident.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lait Thym Sel | Category: Remarkable; Michelin 1 Star (2025); Michelin 1 Star (2024) | €€€€ | — |
| L'Ardoise | €€ | — | |
| Sens | €€€ | — | |
| Autour d'un Cep | €€ | — | |
| Bouillon Baron | € | — | |
| Kazumi | €€€ | — |
How Lait Thym Sel stacks up against the competition.
At €€€€, it is priced at the ceiling for Angers, but two consecutive Michelin stars (2024 and 2025) confirm the kitchen is delivering at that level. Within the Loire Valley, you are paying for a recognised creative kitchen with no direct local rival at this standard. If Michelin-calibre cooking is what you want in this city, there is no comparable alternative to trade down to without a significant drop in ambition.
Sens is the closest comparison in terms of positioning but sits a tier below in recognition and price. L'Ardoise and Autour d'un Cep are solid choices for a less formal meal without the €€€€ spend. Bouillon Baron works if you want something casual and affordable. Kazumi is the option if you prefer Japanese over creative French. None of these carries a Michelin star.
The body context flags a counter seat option, which makes solo dining genuinely viable here. Proximity to the kitchen at a two-chef creative restaurant adds interest to a solo visit rather than detracting from it. Book ahead regardless — with Hard booking difficulty and a starred room, walk-in solo seats are not a reliable strategy.
Booking is rated Hard, so plan well in advance. The restaurant is at 17 Rue Boisnet in central Angers, run by Remo and Mario Capitaneo, whose creative format means the menu is not à la carte in the traditional sense. Come with appetite and time — this is a kitchen that commands attention, not a quick dinner slot.
The venue data does not specify private dining or group capacity, so check the venue's official channels before assuming larger parties are straightforward. Given the booking difficulty rating and the likely compact size of a one-star creative room in Angers, groups of more than four should confirm arrangements early and expect limited flexibility on dates.
Given two consecutive Michelin stars and a creative format led by the Capitaneo duo, the tasting menu is the right way to eat here — it is almost certainly the primary format. At €€€€, you are paying for a curated progression from a kitchen that has earned consistent external validation. If you prefer to order à la carte and control pacing, this format may not suit you.
Yes. Two Michelin stars in consecutive years, a creative menu, and Angers' highest fine-dining recognition make this the default choice for a celebration in the city. The counter seat option adds an interactive dimension that works well for a dinner with meaning. Book as far ahead as possible given the Hard booking difficulty rating.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
