Say Canard Street and you say duck. Canard Street is an épicerie and street food concept that serves 100% duck. Grégoire and Nicolas are the brains behind this ducking cool project, two young guys brimming with passion. A taste of their concept was already available since 2016 at the Halles des Wazemmes in Lille. A year later they put some money aside, bought a property and are opening their first restaurant in collaboration with Creneau International.

Grégoire and Nicolas wanted to extend the atmosphere of the Halles des Wazemmes to their new location. The industrial character could not be lost. They also wanted to integrate a clear link with ‘le canard’ and open their new restaurant’s doors to everyone, it should not be too ‘posh’.

Time to get to work. First we chose to maintain the flooring from the original building, which was a parquet combined with large lightgrey tiles. This way we had some more budget to spend on the wall coverings, which would have a bigger impact anyway. For the walls we chose a mix of tactile materials: grey cement (a link to the industrial character of the Halles des Wazemmes), cork (a warm material that has an acoustic function) and loads and loads of green! We adopted the dark-stained wood was used in Halles des Wazemmes in our design and included it in the counter of the new location.

The real eye catcher would be the wall of duck decoys. It adds an extremely instagrammable aspect to the project. As do the quotes on the walls actually. It is these details that draw the customers’ attention and will be shared on social media.

Canard à l’orange is a classic in French cuisine. It is often associated with traditional, dull and way too expensive restaurants. Grégoire and Nicolas knew this all too well and invented an entire street food concept around it. It made duck appeal to a much wider audience. The star ingredient is prepared in different ways, with different influences and maybe most importantly: at an affordable rate. At Canard Street you might swing by for a quick bite, yet at the same time you can buy sublime, qualitative duck products in the épicerie to cook up in your own kitchen. Delicious duck sausage, a beautiful duck terrine or a juicy duck leg, you’ll find it all at Canard Street’s épicerie.

There is no doubt about the success of Canard Street. In the afternoon customers are queuing up to enjoy a nice bite of duck. Good preparation and a swift service ensure that this unique street food concept is also a fastgood concept. Grégoire and Nicolas recently accepted the Grand Prix des Jeunes Créateurs du Commerce for their Canard Street project. High time to get your ducks in a row and plan your next trip to Lille!