What better way to experience French Cuisine than on the French Riviera! You don’t need us to tell you about how fantastic the food of France is, but the food within this area of France has something for everyone. Being on the Mediterranean seafood and fresh ingredient’s is on the menu! Rather than listing local eateries we have put together our recommendations for local cuisine to try!
Ice Cream Bars
Our number one top of the list indulgent treat is ice cream and there is plenty of it to be had in Nice! You could three ice creams a day and in a week still wouldn’t get to sample all the flavours on offer! There is an abundance of ice-cream bars most are open until at least midnight, with many opting to have their pudding here rather than in a restaurant. Flavours range from the standard chocolate, strawberry and vanilla to the tamer flavours such as lavender and rose to the strange and adventurous such as avocado, olive and cactus. The Old Town is the best place to try ice cream.
Socca
A quintessential street food of Nice, Socca is a thin, crusty chickpea pancake with a soft interior. It’s cooked in a wood oven on a large round steel plate. Try it with a bit of pepper!
Salade Niçoise
An obvious favourite meal in Nice is the classic Niçoise salad. It is a fresh and vibrant salad consisting of tomatoes, radish, onion, black olives, hard boiled eggs, tuna, and anchovies usually served with a drizzle of olive oil.
Pissaladière
A pizza, but not a pizza. This tart is topped with onion, anchovies and olives. It’s an intense dish that’s worth a try. You can grab it from most boulangeries for a couple euros. It is often served as an appetizer.
Les Petits Farcis
A classic Niçoise specialty takes vegetables such as eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini and stuffs them with ground meat, garlic and bread crumbs. These can be served hot or cold.
La Daube Niçoise
Great when you need a hearty meal, the Daube Niçoise features slow cooked beef. The beef is cooked for several hours in red wine with onion, carrots and herbs. The tender beef is served with pasta.
Ratatouille
Did you know Ratatouille originated in Nice? The ingredients can vary but it a mix of herbs and vegetables such as bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, onion, garlic, carrot, onion, tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini. Ratatouille is often served as a side.
Raviolis Niçois
With a delicious filling of braised beef (daube de boeuf), finely chopped chard and a dry mountain cow’s cheese such as parmesan it makes a fantastic dish.
Soupe au Pistou
A popular Provençal dish of bean soup enriched with pistou. Pistou is made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil and is somewhat similar to pesto without pine nuts.
Un Croissant
Another food the French do better than any other country is the croissant. These should be golden in colour, with a flaky outside and soft, airy, buttery inside. The croissant should almost melt in your mouth but make a huge mess with each bite. With many varieties such as the Pain au chocolat (a croissant filled with chocolate), Croissant aux Amandes (an almond croissant using day old croissants, topped with sliced almonds and powdered sugar and filled with an almond paste) and pan of croissant abricot (an apricot croissant that you can usually only find first thing in the morning).
Pan Bagnat
A Mediterranean take on the humble sandwich. A large whole-wheat country roll, this itself has to be substantial enough for the copious amounts of juicy filling and act as sponge for the olive oil. The filling is essentially a salade niçoise! Consisting of hard-boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, olives, garlic, tuna and anchovies. It is the best local seasonal produce crammed into one succulent sandwich.
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