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France
For quick and tasty street food on the go, try Sur La Pouce.
The moustachioed owner is friendly and chatty - go a second time and chances are he'll remember you.
To get a real taste of classic Nice food go for the assiette Nicoise. It gives you all the classics on one plate: stuffed vegetables, courgette flowers, sardines etc.
On Rue St Francois in the Old Town
It is one of the recommendations on this site: www.nice-city-vacation.com/nice-restaurant.html
This is a fairly new restaurant, at least it wasn't around last time we visited, but we could have missed it. It is on Rue de Prefecture and it serves traditional Nicois dishes.
It is quite small and cosy with some tables outside. It's always busy and we'd highly recommend booking a few days before (we had to try three times before we got a table). It is a much better experience than the tourist trap of the Cours Saleya, and just two streets back.
Rue de Prefecture
The new owners of bar Antoine in Rue de la Prefecture have certainly changed the place; it’s cleaner, more sophisticated and with a less varied menu, but: it is still a very French atmosphere with lovely food and good service.
Try the Parma ham freshly sliced to order in front of you. The duck is good too and the truffle risotto to die for. It’s still one of the busiest restaurants in Old Nice, a place where every other doorway leads to a restaurant, so book a table and enjoy.
Rue de la Prefecture
Oldest seafood cafe in Nice. Eat moules, oyster, lobster and shellfish platters. Wash them down with delicious white wine/whisky.
Great place to eat in the afternoon after sex.
Plaza Garibaldi
Leave Nice and travel east five kilometres to the delightful town of Villefranche-sur-Mer with its deep natural harbour and wonderful selection of seafood restaurants.
Note the splendid Baroque church at the top of the hill and wind your way down the medieval streets to the amazing chapel by the sea, lavishly decorated by Jean Cocteau and dedicated to fishermen in the area who initially refused to enter because of the flamboyant naked male angels painted on the walls.
If you like Cocteau's work, travel onwards to Menton to a very camply decorated registry office and a wonderful museum, containing a huge Cocteau collection.
This hilltop town above Menton claims to be the highest coastal town in Europe at 780m above sea level, although even with a catapult you'd struggle to dive into the ocean from here.
The views over Menton, Monaco and the surrounding valleys are truly fabulous and there are at least a couple of restaurants to admire them from.
The town is only 20 minutes drive from Menton, or less from the corniche roads and motorway, but feels off the beaten track.
For the adventurous, try climing to the old XII fort and medieval garden at the top of the town which are in a shambolic state of disrepair.
The town contains numerous vaulted passageways and you can admire beautiful houses dating back to the XV century, with their magnificently restored doorways.
For those looking for more recent history, the town is the entry point for a tour into what remains of the Maginot Line fortress.
The restaurant with the best views in town is Le Righi, 1 place du fort, 06500 Sainte-Agnès. Reservations are recommended and can be made on: 04 92 10 90 88.
Sainte Agnes is 10km north of Menton. Menton is near the French-Italian border.
Map: tinyurl.com/37mx5l
Beautiful restaurant with very nice service and a reasonable price tag. We had oysters which were out of this world.
Oysters were not previously palatable for both my wife and I, but this experience was to die for.
We have not stopped eating them since! So now we are all zinced up and with a few of the shampoo bubbles we have been lifted to a new way of life.
This is an olive oil shop and restaurant in the Old Town of Nice. The owner is one of the most enthusiastic we have ever met. We had no idea how much variety there could be in the taste of the oils and how much the different olive oils can bring out the taste of the food. My advocado starter was amazing and my new hubby also loved his goats cheese starter. I had lasagne and he had rabbit for the main course which were great too. And the tiramisu to polish it all all, fantastic. It's such a friendly place, but we would have never had gone if it hadn't been recommended to us by Matt and Gayle at Nice Pebbles who rented our apartment to us. If you're in Nice, you so must go to Olivieria. It's not to be missed.
Rue de Collet, Vieux Nice
www.oliviera.com
The guidebooks I read before setting off to Nice failed to mention Cagnes. I wanted to go to Renoir's museum so that's why I went. I was very taken with the place. I imagine it's like Brighton was in the 1960s but with a lot more class and a lot more sun. Pay this place a visit. There are restaurants a plenty and they are much cheaper than in Nice yet to the same standard. There are so many children here having fun in the sun too. A very sweet family holiday place which I intend to recommend to my niece's ma and pa.
This is a fantastic restaurant on Rue Lascaris just off the port. It's fantastic and well deserves its Michelin star. The chef is Finnish and it's just a little bit different to the usual whilst still tasting great. The menu changes every day and you can eat outside too.
Rue Lascaris.
www.jouni.fr
Tel: 33 4 9708 1480
Apart from in the main station area, there are very few internet cafes in Nice, and this is the only place in the Old Town.
Serving food with fresh ingredients from the market, drinks and snacks, it's a very friendly cafe run by a young Englishman who has lived in Nice for 15 years. There are seven terminals in a separate room, printers and so forth, and ethernet and power sockets by each table in the cafe itself. Also has wi-fi and cable TV for main sporting events.
Happy hour for drinks from 5pm, and English breakfast is on the menu too.
8 rue St Vincent (corner of rue Pontin), 06300 Nice;
04 93 62 68 86;
e-mail: cafe@wanadoo.fr;
Open 9am to 7-ish. Closed Sundays
This very friendly gay/lesbian bar has a wide selection of wines and other drinks. Generous portions of freshly-prepared snacks are also available.
Also worth a visit for the super murals on the wall, and it offers a showcase for local artists working in various media.
Clientele is mainly, but not exclusively, lesbian and gay.
5 rue Halévy, 06000 Nice
Tel +33 04 93 87 07 04
This is a fabulous vegetarian restaurant next to the old port. There is no menu to choose from: the Italian chef, Marco Folicaldi, cooks fresh ingredients from that morning's market.
Five courses delivered by friendly waiters who explain the ingredients of each course. Excellent food and wine, a unique restaurant with a great atmosphere.
4 bis, quai Papacino
(Rue de Foresta)
+33 049356 25 27
One of the smallest "Appellation d'Origine Controllée" regions in France is that of the Bellet wine, just north of Nice. It produces very unusual whites and very mediteranean reds. To be enjoyed with a slice of pissaladière (local onion tart) or stuffed vegetables à la niçoise. Le Safari restaurant is not a bad address and won't cost the earth.
Le Safari
1 cours Saleya
0033 4 93801844
La Zucca Magica is the best vegetarian restaurant in the south of France. It is located in Nice Harbour.
There's no menu as such - you get 5 small, perfectly prepared and utterly stunning courses: some of the best Italian food you'll ever eat and at a superb price. Unpretentious, delicious and fun. Highly recommended.
If you're approaching Nice Harbour from Nice, La Zucca Magica is on the left, facing the harbour.
Small, family-run restaurant packed with locals and regulars near the train station with great service, good quality food and large portions.
Makes a change from the tourist traps (bad food and rip-off service) around the pedestrian zone and the flower market/Cours Saleya.
Three-course menus start at €14 (very filling dish of the day); the €26 menu is almost gastronomic (frogs legs, veal sweetbread, foie gras or sole meunière).
A great address!
25 Rue d'Angleterre, between the back of Notre Dame Cathedral and the train station.
Closed on Sunday nights and Mondays.
Tel: 04 93 88 64 48
A fantastic seafood restaurant in the old harbour. The Bouillabaisse is sensational.
They do it in the traditional fashion, with the mixed fish and seafood presented on a platter for your inspection before and after cooking, then served in an exquisite saffron-spiced broth with croutons and rouille. Delicious with a cold, dry Hock.
Sit outside, watch the sun set over the cliffs surrounding the harbour, and imagine you're Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
In the old harbour
Small (40 seater) and totally delightful restaurant near the port. Menu Italian/Mediterranean, and seriously good.
Amazingly, considering the quality of the food and the surroundings, it is also cheap. Menu changes daily, according to the market. First courses currently €5, main dishes €10. In addition, dishes can be sampled in "bouls".
Very good wine list.
Paulo Bonnisoni, the young Italian patron, is opening an Italian delicatessen across the street.
All tables filled with local clientele lunch and dinner, so booking is essential. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Boni, 21 Rue Berla (between the Museum of Modern Art and the port).
04 89 98 91 20
It only has about 24 seats, looks like nothing special, but it serves the best Nicois food anywhere. The chef once had two Michelin stars but he gave them up to make home cooking. No phone and no credit cards.
4 rue Raoul Bosio
This gelateria on Place Rosetti has nearly 100 different flavours of home-made ice cream, ranging from the more conventional, such as chocolate orange, to the simply bizarre, such as avocado or balsamic vinegar!
A real treat for the taste buds.
Place Rosetti, in the old town.
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