Meert

Maison Méert has operated in Lille since 1761, when it opened as an ice-cream and chocolate shop under a confectioner named Delcourt. It was Michael Paulus Gislinus Méert, a Belgian confectioner who modernized the business in the 19th century and installed it on rue Esquermoise — where the historic shop still stands — who gave the house its lasting identity, blending Belgian and Parisian pastry influences.

His signature contribution, developed in 1849, is the gaufre: a brioche-style waffle filled with Madagascar vanilla cream, made to a recipe the house says has stayed unchanged since. Past patrons are reported to have included Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill, and in 1980 the French Ministry of Culture classified the original store's façade and interior decor as a Monument Historique — a level of heritage protection unusual for a working retail shop rather than a museum. Méert now operates as tearoom, restaurant and shop together at the Lille address, alongside a Paris outpost, giving visitors the option to eat the gaufre on site rather than carry it home boxed. For a stop built around one recipe, the combination of an unbroken 1849 formula and a legally protected 1761 storefront is what separates it from a modern pâtisserie doing a vanilla waffle as a menu item.