La Merenda, Nice, France

La Merenda, Nice, France



On a recent trip to Europe I had some truly wonderful meals, including two magnificent feasts prepared by brilliant and renowned chefs, one by Fergus Henderson, another by Raymond Blanc, and a number of superlative meals in Italy; about those feasts and some of the best of the dishes in Italy I hope to post in the near future. But of all the gastronomic highlights of that trip, I think the meal that was closest to perfect for me in all respects was also one of the simplest, in an especially unassuming setting, namely, a meal with my family at La Merenda in Nice, France.

La Merenda is a small restaurant, with very limited seating (perhaps 20-25), a limited menu focussed on Nissart specialties, all prepared in a tiny kitchen into which one can easily look.


It is a place that does what it does well, with no inclination to deviate from the chosen path in order to appeal to or ease access for the tourist hordes that routinely fill Nice; they are there, it seems to me, not to make as much money as they can, but to run their business in a way that works best for them:


Since there's no phone, we stopped by in the course of an early evening promenade through town and put in our name for a table later that evening. This gave us ample opportunity to take in the beauty of the sunset...

... and to hang out in a café, where Lucantonius could practice his sketching and I my drinking...

Our reservation was for 9 p.m. and when we got there, I was delighted to see the glassware employed:


Now to the food. Amata and I each ordered an entrée and a principal plate, Lucantonius just one of the principals as a 'piatto unico/Eintopf', and for that, the dish he got was perfectly suited, namely, a bowl of lentils with Swiss Chard and sausages. It was a beautifully balanced and delicious dish of a homey sort and, together with the bread, Lucantonius ate it all with gusto, including (to my shock) the chard:

Amata had as her starter an exquisite plate of pâtes au pistou, which was especially interesting in contrast to the closely related dishes of pasta with pesto that we had just recently had in Liguria:

For her main plate, she had the daube de bœuf à la provençale, which was deeply flavourful and perfectly accompanied by panisses:

For me, the choice of starter seemed inevitable, having spent so much time cooking and researching Western Mediterranean vegetable stews, I had to go with the Nissart version thereof, ratatouia/ratatouille, and I was not at all disappointed. On the contrary, it was perfect:

For my main dish, my choice was also easy to make, despite the attractiveness of all of the offerings. I love tripe and there was no way I would pass up the opportunity to have a plate of tripes à la niçoise. Another dish perfectly executed and perfectly accompanied by the delicious panisses, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. This plate of food is probably the best one I've had in a year of eating really well:

Wine choices at La Merenda are limited and that was fine with me; this rosé was very nice with the dishes we had:

The waiter was friendly and efficient, our table-neighbours (some from elsewhere in France, some from Nice) also very friendly -- the space is somewhat cramped -- and again, the food was simple, honest, delicious.

We were too sated to need dessert but I did take a cup of espresso; the five plates ordered, plus wine, water and coffee, came to a mere €88, a most reasonable price, especially given the quality of the food.

Our visit to La Merenda: An absolutely wonderful experience...

For exercise after the meal, I decided to go for a swim -- that's me on the left:


Bon prô,
Antonius

La Merenda
4 rue Raoul Bosio
Nice 06000
No phone, no website, no credit cards, reservations in person.
Open for lunch and dinner, weekdays only.

P.S. The bathroom is smaller than those on WWII vintage submarines. WARSCHAU!

Thanks so much for sharing. La Merenda is one of my favorite places in the world. Chef/owner Dominic Le Stanc was famously the Michelin starred chef at the legendary Negresco before he left to open his own sliver of Niçoise heaven.

Louisa Chu wrote:Thanks so much for sharing. La Merenda is one of my favorite places in the world. Chef/owner Dominic Le Stanc was famously the Michelin starred chef at the legendary Negresco before he left to open his own sliver of Niçoise heaven.

Louisa -

Indeed, clearly a great chef but one who, upon taking over La Merenda, allegedly spent months 'training' with the old owners in order to get the traditional recipes just right. Which he clearly has! The opportunity to have some of the basic, time-honoured dishes of Nissart cookery prepared as best they can be, with regard both to ingredients and method, by someone who is a gifted chef, that is something that one shouldn't pass up. Any time I get to go to Nice I will make a point of returning to La Merenda.

A

Niiiiiiice!

Any other recommendations near Nice would be appreciated, as I'm likely to be there this time next year for the conference that put me in Barcelona last year, and Vienna up through yesterday.

Please visit the Grand Cafe de Turin, one of my favorite restaurants in the world, get a massive shellfish platter, take lots of pictures and report back.

Here's a recent blog entry on the old place from Le Monde. Check out the shellfish pic at the end.

http://malcontenta.blog.lemonde.fr/2009 ... a-memoire/

I should mention that Cafe Turin is a hot, smoke-filled tourist trap of sorts. But one that has a long history and great, great food.