Nice Restaurants

Almost everyone has heard of salade nicoise but this is a mere starter for the restaurant food delights to be found on a city break in Nice. Nice restaurant menus reflect the Mediterranean climate, with most cooking based around fish and vegetables. But beyond this, Nice offers a dizzying selection of French regional dishes and restaurant menus heavily influenced by nearby Italy. Also, make sure to get a taste of Nice's other big attraction - its ice cream parlours.

The cuisine of Nice

Nice has its very own cuisine plus a host of nicoise snack dishes, notably socca, a savoury thin pancake made out chick-pea flour, salt and olive oil. It’ s been the traditional workers’ breakfast for generations.

Or try a pan-bagnat, bread rubbed with garlic and containing the ingredients of a salade nicoise - lettuce, tomatoes, radish, spring onion, celery, artichoke hearts, tuna, anchovies, salt and pepper.

A pissaladière is a savoury tart with onions, anchovy and black olives while a tourta de blea is a savoury pie with chard and pine nuts. You’ll find pizza and pasta galore in Nice – the city was Italian through much of its modern era and the border is not far away.

Farci, or stuffed vegetables, each variety with its own stuffing, are widely available as are courgette flowers fried in batter, and aïoli, mayonnaise with garlic.

Soups include fish soup and soupe au pistou, a hearty vegetable dish containing beans and finished off with pistou, a sauce made of basil, olive oil, garlic and cheese.

Ravioli and gnocchi are both popular as is ratatouille, the classic combination of tomatoes, red peppers, aubergines, onions and garlic. You may find porquetta or stuffed suckling pig, while the adventurous will be tempted by tripes à la nicoise, tripe in tomato sauce. Stockfish, or dried, salted cod is also popular, fried with onions, tomatoes and white wine with anchovies and olives added.

The top restaurant is at the Negresco, where the Chantercler offers luxurious dining. As well as restaurants offering local specialities, others focus on dishes from other parts of France, such as the southwest, with cassoulet and foie gras - try the Le Pot d'Etain in Rue Meyerbeer.

For local cuisine, Voyageur Nissart is located right in the town centre, between Avenue Jean Medecin and the main SNCF railway station. For three generations, it has offered authentic recipes in a pleasant yet unassuming restaurant. It provides the flavours of niçoise cuisine in a rustic setting and offers great value.

Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Mexican restaurants are also available in good numbers. There are some excellent restaurants right on the beach too - so use the sunbeds and umbrellas, enjoy the waiter service for your drinks and an excellent, civilised lunch looking out over the azure sea. What could be better on a glorious summer day?

Fans of traditional French food will not be disappointed with centrally located restaurants such as L'Horloge and Don Camilo offering excellent a la carte and set menus. For fish there is the notable Boccaccio in the pedestrian district while the Grand Cafe de Turin is in a class of its own for seafood.

Most restaurants offer a range of local, high quality wines from the Nice area or Côte de Provence. They are invariably good value.