This restaurant is really special. For 15 euros you are served a huge platter of assorted coquillages straight from the market stalls outside: oysters, mussels, crevettes, crab, langoustes and clams are all affordable for those on even the tightest budget.

The prices start from about 15 euros for a huge platter and go up according to the quantity of raw shellfish you feel like eating. For fans of coquillages this prize-winning restaurant is surely a must, but even for those Brits like me who are terrified of eating something so weird (let’s face it…), the lively atmosphere, the friendly staff and the sight of so many people enjoying delicious food is enough to make you try your first oyster.

It is child-friendly, unpretentious and welcoming, and the wine is good too. Forget Bouillabaisse unless you can get a real Marseillais to make it for you for a tenth of the price and go ‘Chez Toinou’. It is a Marseille institution.

www.toinou.com
3, cours Saint Louis - 13001 Marseille

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Like Bouillabaisse, Marseilles is a city of sinews and bone, uncompromising and greedy. Traditionally centred round the fish market, this is where hard faced dealers are found in the early morning buying crates of lobsters, cod, langoustines, sea bass and hake.

The harsh overhead fluorescents wash the colour from everything except the dark lobsters that struggle against their destiny to be boiled alive. The produce is so fresh there is no smell of fish, only the overpowering cloying stench of Gauloises, the pungent aroma of stale sweat and the ever-present odour of garlic.

By mid–morning the market has been emptied and hosed down. Only the raucous gulls argue and bicker on the quayside having gorged earlier on the huge pile of entrails emptied into the harbour.

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Salt cod is one of the staples of the Mediterranean. It’s one of those dishes, no matter how many times it’s been tried, still seems to be bony and not worth the trouble. It’s everywhere in every Mediterranean port but it only seems to be the locals who buy it.

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If any dish can be said to be typical of Provence, it has to be Bouillabaisse - and especially so of Marseilles. No two people will agree on what makes good Bouillabaisse, as fish vary so much along the coast. Ideally it is based on the bony rock fish, rascasse, along with whatever else is available.

Everything is cooked whole and simmered in a gigantic pot with potatoes until tender. The liquor is strained and served as a first course and the remaining chunks of fish and vegetables served as a stew. Now while our refined tastes might balk at eating heads, entrails, skin etc, be assured this is one of the top ten dishes in the world for taste.

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The best bouillabaisse in the town that invented it. A bit dearer than its competitors, but just ask the locals why they eat here. Share one between two for €32 - unless you're really hungry - and wash it down with chilled Côtes-du-Rhône rosé.

3 Rue Fortia, in the restaurant district around Place Thiars just south of the Vieux Port.
Tel.04.91.33.09.73; fax.04.91.33.73.21; loury@loury.com; www.loury.com.

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