La Part des Anges - one for wine lovers and foodies

La Part des Anges - 18th July 2009

my favourite surroundings

Think of La Part des Anges first as a wine merchants, then as a wine bar serving light supper and finally as a restaurant. Very nice atmosphere here - very French but friendly and unstuffy. From outside you wouldn't realise any food was served here - there are just a few tables at the back and the restaurant is open only a couple of nights a week I think. Its main function is a wine merchants.

As a restaurant there is a limited menu and you buy the wine by the glass which means it's a great opportunity to try a different one with each course - from apéro to pudding. We have no real clue about wine and took the advice of the chap who served us - he seemed to be running the place alongside the chef who can be seen preparing meals through an open arch into the tiny kitchen. Courses were prepped, cooked and plated up in a tiny space with great speed and confidence.

Menu - sorry for the out of focus shot

If you like a particular wine, it is of course possible to buy a bottle or case of any of the wines you tried. During our meal, at the business end of the store, a group of people spent about two hours discussing, sampling and choosing champagne for a future event. All the wine is stored on the walls so don't lean back too far on your chair or the evening could become very expensive.

The room is high-ceilinged with vaulted walls with the menu chalked up on a board. There doesn't appear to be a fixed menu, just a selection of starters, mains and puddings. There isn't much choice, the emphasis is on the wine which is sold by the glass.

We noticed a couple of groups ordered the charcuterie starter, wine and nothing else - this seemed quite acceptable to the manager and is a good idea if you have had a big lunch and just want a light supper rather than a full meal. It might explain why cheese was part of the starters too - it's a good choice if you just want one course with your wine. The starters where appropriate are served and eaten straight off wooden platters. No standing on ceremony here and hang onto your cutlery for the next course.

Charcuterie - this is just one serving

The three of us shared one course of charcuterie - a large platter of ham, salami and prosciutto with great wodges of good bread - use your paper napkin if you don't want to eat off the marble-toppped table. We like strong red wine and were recommended the Côte du Rhone which we liked and continued to order throughout the next course. I had risotto with truffle oil and shavings - it was perfect. The other two both had veal cooked au point on a bed of vegetables.

quasi de Veau Rotis et legumes d'Alberga

risotto au beurre du Trufe et Trufes d'été

The charcuterie was excellent value at 10 euros, the photo shows one serving plus bread which we shared between the three of us. The other starters were around 11,50 euros, choose from a plate of cheeses, tomato with melon sorbet, octopus salad or gazpacho soup. Main courses were the veal and truffle risotto (see photos) at 14,50 and 17,50 euros respectively. there was also a ravioli dish and a mushroom and vegetable dish, both at 11,50 euros. Puddings were the fig/apple/sponge combination, homemade meringue/cream or fromage blanc with honey for 5,50 - 6 euros. Coffee is 1,60 euros a cup.

There were nine different wines available by the glass that evening which varied from 3 euro to 6,50 euros a glass. You will have to squint at the menu photo to make out the different types. There are a couple of aperitifs and a wide range of digestifs to follow your meal. No doubt, if you prefer a bottle of your own choosing e with your meal this would be no problem but we rather enjoyed trying something new on recommendation. It was the same with the food menu, a small unusual just 5 starters, 4 main courses and three puddings meant we all tried something different for a change.

All fabulous so far, the puddings were the least successful - I had fig/apple something with sponge and my daughter has brousse au miel which turned out to be fromage blanc with honey, it was ok. We had a 'zero pointé' Loire rosé wine with our pudding - wonderful, then coffee.

The bill came to around 100 euros. I liked the place a lot and I think it suits the casual approach of a starter of charcuterie, a glass or two of wine then clearing off although having said that, I could eat that risotto again and again...

If you have a particular interest in wine served with then you might really like this place particularly if you speak a little French. I got the impression the manager would talk wine with you as long like you like. The best bet is to amble along during the day, have a look inside, read the menu and if you like what you see, book a table. I am not sure of the nights that food is served - we went on Saturday night having popped in to reserve earlier in the day - it might be just Fridays and Saturdays. I don't know if food is served at lunchtime, sorry.

La Part des Anges is located in rue Gubernatis, handy for the Old Town and modern city centre:

La Part des Anges

17 rue Gubernatis

Nice 06000

tel: 04 93 62 69 80

fax: 04 93 54 76 04

map:

View La Part des Anges Restaurant, Nice in a larger map

For other restaurant recommendations, please see my restaurant page on my website allaboutnice.com

La Favola Restaurant on the Cours Saleya

La Favola Restaurant, 13, Cours Saleya, Old Nice, France

Tel: 04 93 04 45 23

On the corner of the Cours and rue Louis Gassin:- Map or scroll to end of post

For more restaurants in Nice please visit my website AllaboutNice.com

La Favola is an Italian restaurant occupying the corner of the Cour Saleya and rue Louis Gassin, a couple of steps from its sister restaurant, La Voglia. Although it's new for 2009, it is already building a good reputation with several favourable mentions in the tripadvisor.com Nice forum.

La Voglia, a relative newcomer to the Cours, already has an established reputation for good food and large portions. La Favola seems to be headed the same way. It's a large restaurant with outdoor terrace which spreads across under the market awnings, freshened by a sea breeze funnelled through a nearby archway.

The day we went for lunch, there was no breeze and the temp was in the mid-30s, Nice is having a heat wave or canicule this summer and although it feels wrong to be inside on a sunny day we passed on the terrace and took the air-conditioned option. There are two levels, we went upstairs and took a seat by the window.

Seating in the dining rooms is mostly semi-booths - with white padded banquettes supplemented with a few chairs. The decor is a teen-boy bedroom palette of black, silver and red or maybe a tribute to the local footie team strip, not really my taste but it's all new and fresh, no expense spared etc. There was a reassuring glimpse of large open kitchens on the way to our table.

The menus don't give much away, I ordered La Belle Salade 'Favola' (13,50 euros) without much idea what it might contain. Turned out to be parma ham, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, melon and avocado plus usual salad-y stuff. My daughter who always wants fillet steak had La Tagliata de Boeuf sur lit Riquette (22 euros) - which sounds as though it might come with pasta but in fact turned out to be quite plain - just strips of rare-cooked steak on salad - a bit too Atkins for my taste but I guess the bread basket would bridge the carb deficit. My husband had 'Il Grande Fritto Misto di Pesce' (24 euros) - an assortment of battered fish - some whole, and ugly with it, plus salad.

My salad was enormous and perfect. Looking around at other diners, this Salade belle Favola and huge bowls of pasta seemed to be the popular choices.

At this point we knew it wasn't going to be a budget lunch so we had a rush of blood to the head and ordered a bottle of Bandol at 25 euros. Plus several carafes of free water.

It felt a bit pricey to us as we usually have a baguette on our balcony, the weak pound doesn't help either - pizzas averaging about 12,50 euros, salads around 14,50 euros and pasta dishes between 12 and 20 euros. Fish and Beef dishes were around 24 euros. However, the prices are very comparable with other restaurants on the Cours Saleya and the portions were huge, it's a prime location, service excellent and it's a good safe clean bet in the very heart of the tourist beaten track.

For pudding, we ordered Le Gros Pot. This dish actually came with a hint - Tout Chocolat - essayer de le finir!!! - all chocolate - try and finish it!!! My daughter accepted the challenge and failed but no matter as we had requested 3 spoons and helped her out when she faltered. It was three layers of chocolate mousse, dark, milk and white, decorated with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate spirals. It was 9 euros but we decided that 3 euros each for a shared pudding sounded better value. 8 euros was the average price of the puddings.

Bottles of wine started around 18 euros with many in the 23 euro range, large glasses of wine were 4,50 euros and a cup of espresso to finish was 2 euros. The bill came to just about 100 euros, quite high, but we had picked expensive dishes and wine.

A couple having pasta, a bottle of house wine and a coffee would pay around 54 euros or add an extra 9 euros to share the Gros Pot chocolate pudding.

View La Favola Restaurant, 13 Cours Saleya, Old Nice in a larger map

For more information about Nice and other restaurants, please visit my website AllaboutNice.com

La Colombe d'Or, St Paul de Vence

My website : AllaboutNice.com

My restaurant page

La Colombe d'Or website

lunch last year at La Colombe d'Or

We have been coming to La Colombe d'Or for lunch every year, sometimes twice a year since 2003. Just within the entrance, there is a large sculpture of a thumb by César. It's been a good height marker for our daughter over the years:

Five year's growth against César'sThumb at La Colombe d'Or Restaurant

If Thumb looks familiar, chances are you will have seen a gold version outside the Mayor's office in Nice this summer:

La Colombe is one of our favourite places and lunch there has become an annual pilgrimage every summer.

We always start with the famous hors d'oeuvres - we share one between two, followed by roast beef, which is prepared for a minimum of two persons. My husband sometimes chooses the rabbit stew - a speciality of La Colombe.

Here are the menus from 2006 - they remain much the same each year:

I wrote a review for this restaurant earlier this year for Riviera Pebbles - here is the link

The following clip lasting about three and a half minutes is a selection of photos from lunches at La Colombe that date from 2008 back to 2003:

Last weekend, La Colombe d'Or was the subject of a small article in the Financial Times. Here is the direct link and I have also copied and pasted the complete review here:

Lore of the Colombe d’Or

By Rowley Leigh

Published: August 15 2009 02:53 | Last updated: August 15 2009 02:53

The Colombe d’Or is a love-it or hate-it sort of place. If you hate it – and some do – it is because it is a celebrity-ridden, vulgar sort of joint with overpriced, ordinary food in an overpopulated, touristy village in a much over-visited corner of the south of France. However, if you love it, you don’t care about any of these things because a lunch there is a kind of privilege that has to be experienced at least once.

A lot of peole visit the hotel without ever seeing what it is most famous for: the art from the likes of Matisse, Braque and Léger that is dotted around the place or the large Calder mobile by the swimming pool. This bounty is said to have been given by the artists as payment in lieu for meals and sojourns in the hotel.

Even the disparagers have to concede that the hotel’s splendid terrace is a good spot to dine – “un endroit fleuri et ombrageux”, as Michelin would have it, although I doubt if its reviewers would have much more to say on the subject of La Colombe d’Or. The food is unpretentious in the extreme and, in choosing a main course, it is probably prudent to stick to a simple grilled fish, which will not disappoint. To start, of course, you must have the hors d’oeuvres.

I daresay old Colombe hands eschew the hors d’oeuvres, a bit like habitués of La Tour d’Argent would never have the duck. They are not cheap and one can only eat – and I speak with some expertise on this point – a fraction of them.

The service starts slowly with a lady of mature years who brings a few saucissons sec to the table and cuts them into thick slices . Besides the saucissons, a magnificent basket of raw vegetables – artichokes, radishes, cucumbers, carrots and celery – is presented before the hors d’oeuvres proper appear in profusion.Among their number are sardines en escabèche, chickpeas, celeriac remoulade, black pudding, rice, couscous, potato salad, lentils, artichoke hearts, aubergines and squid. It is a banquet.

I tried to copy the idea some years ago when revamping a restaurant we had purchased. It didn’t work: the restaurant was too small and the customers just didn’t get it. Ten years later, I tried again at Le Café Anglais with a list of 15 hors d’oeuvres before the starters proper. This time it caught on. My thanks to La Colombe are long overdue.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais
rowley.leigh@ft.com

The famous hors d'oevres are amazing, definitely share one between two though - it would be enough with the bread, saucisson and basket of salad, veg, even hard-boiled eggs as a meal in itself plus the salty anchovy mayonnaise.

We love the place, the food is very simple, nothing special but the atmosphere is magical. It's the highlight of our summer holiday, we usually book lunch there during our last week in August.

We take the 400 bus from Nice and visit the Fondation Maeght modern art museum and sculpture, this year until 8th November 2009 - 'Miro et son Jardin' first, then lunch at La Colombe followed a very mellow wander around the perched village of St Paul before sleeping off lunch on the bus back to Nice.

To make a reservation at La Colombe d'Or:

Tel: 00 33 (0)4 93 32 32 80 02 or email: contact@la-colombe-dor.com

www.AllaboutNice.com

View La Colombe d'Or Restaurant & Hotel, St Paul de Vence. in a larger map

Simple lunch in Old Nice, great value

Tuesday 3rd April 2007

Chez Christiane, Old Nice



Chez Christiane is a tiny restaurant on rue Pairoliere in Old Nice, not far from Place Garibaldi and the Gare Routiere (bus station) You tend to miss it as there is a fragrant spice shop opposite which zaps the senses and draws your attention.

We've had several lunches here. It tends to be our default restaurant when our preferred Bar de la Bourse is full and Chez Rene Socca is too busy, it's located about half-way between these two. The concept is very simple. There's one price, 8,60 euros (April 2007) and for this you get a a plate of homemade pasta with a choice of sauce. Sometimes gnocchi or polenta is offered as an alternative to pasta. The pasta is spaghetti or tagliatelle and the sauces are bolognese (more a coating of sauce rather than a dollop of meat) or basilic (pistou) There may be another sauce/pasta combo too.

Included in the price is a generous glass of wine and a single scoop of icecream for pudding, vanilla and sometimes a choice of chocolate. You also get a basket of bread - handy to mop up the sauce. You can have any number of free glasses of water. It's 8,60 euros for everyone, including children even though they don't get the wine, if you don't order a free glass of water, you will have to pay extra for lemonade etc; there's no substituting a soft drink for the wine. If you don't want the icecream, tough, it's still 8,60 euros.

There is an additional menu if you want something different to drink, and coffee is about 2 euros. We've only ever had the menu, no extras. It's good value, the service is fast and the food is consistent and fine for a simple lunch. I always have the homemade pistou sauce with tagliatelle - the garlic in it makes my mouth burn, it's wonderful. Pistou or basilic is a mix of basil, garlic, olive oil. The wine is perfectly drinkable but probably wisely, the red is served cold.The decor is basic and mismatched, dark wood chairs and pale pine tables which irritates me. Don't expect air-conditioning in the summer or heating in the winter. The service is fine, we have only ever seen one chap here, a frenetic waiter, called Christian but he isn't the owner. He has a major panic if the restaurant is full, quite entertaining as he rushes around chuntering to himself. When we first came he only ever rattled off very fast French at us which didn't matter there's not a lot to understand at this restaurant, but this year he has relaxed, more confident in his role and will throw in the odd word of English. He's quick and attentive, you can be in and out as fast as you like but if you are in no hurry, that is fine too.

I don't know why we don't eat here as a first choice, it's consistent, cheap and the pasta fills you up for the rest of the day, can't really fault it. Mind you, you have to enjoy carb-loading although the portions are not overwhelming. Handy choice if you're starving, need to eat quickly and everywhere is full. It's not the sort of place to reserve, just bob in and sit down.

Please see my restaurant page on my website for other recommendations.

One of the best restaurants in Nice and a view of the bay, not to be missed

Friday 6th April 2007

Jouni de La Reserve de Nice

Update August 2009:

Jouni has left La Reserve but fortunately this wonderful restaurant continues to flourish in the experienced hands of Sébastien Mahuet: Article from Nice Matin (French)

Please also see my restaurant recommendations on allaboutNice.com

Lunch at Jouni's today. He has moved from his tiny eponymous restaurant by the Port on rue Lascaris and now head of the restaurant Jouni de La Reserve de Nice, a large white Art Deco building currently being renovated and restored as a Hotel alongside the restaurant. To get here, follow the Port around onto boulevard Franck Pilatte and past the the Club Nautique de Nice. Jouni is Michelin-recommended, may even be starred already.




We had the set menu at 30 euros and it was excellent value, beautifully cooked and presented, a real treat and the views from La Reserve are simply wonderful. The set menu today was roast cod with capers and thyme - Filet de Cabillaud a la grenobloiese, roast potatoes - pomme de terre rotie and baby artichokes with broad beans. An amuse bouche of smooth broccoli soup with croutons started the meal and pudding was tarte aux citrons with sorbet fraise and chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce is presented in increasing drop size.

The service was friendly and impeccable and there was a relaxed and happy atmosphere. I really recommend this restaurant, it has so much in its favour.

The location gives you a lovely 10 minute stroll around the Port, the views are wonderful from the Cap of Nice all around to the Port, and Castel Hill. from the restaurant, if you can get a window table, you feel as though you are on a cruise ship, the views of the Med are stunning. Today we saw swimmers, boats and the enormous Corsica-Nice Ferry arrive. Oh, and the food is super.

We usually eat on our balcony or go somewhere cheap and cheerful in the Old Town, This was a real treat for us and for the set menu at 30 euros, although more than we usually pay for lunch, it still felt great value. We will definitely go again and hope he doesn't put his prices up. Although the restaurant is recently opened (October 2006) it is already very popular and was full. We were lucky to bag a table on spec but I would make a reservation next time; it will be getting busier towards the summer.

The style was in keeping with the 1920s art deco feel of the building but very contemporary too. Pale cream leather chairs, dark wood tables and bent teak columns and art deco styled mirrors blend well. the floor to ceiling windows offer clear 180 degree views and a narrow wooden terrace outside with glass panelled rails to break the sea breeze would be perfect in the summer for outside dining.

There is a second floor to this restaurant with another outside terrace. from our widow seat, it felt as though we were outside. Some of the windows slide open; go for our table in the far corner - you will get a gentle breeze from the open window. A raised bar with cocktail stools leading out onto the terrace looked most inviting, mine's a glass of champagne.

I thoroughly recommend this restaurant, though perhaps not really for families with young children. We took advantage of the fact our daughter was away skiing with her school. If you didn't fancy the set 30 euro menu, then there was a small choice from the a la carte menu. The pricing was 65 euros for a starter, main and pudding (or cheese) or 90 euros for a 'tasting' menu consisting of 3 starters (called entrees in France) a main course (plat), cheese and a pudding (dessert) Individually, entrees are 28 euros, plats 49 euros and fromages/dessert 15 euros respectively. You can see from these prices that the 30 euro set menu offers the greatest value. The wine list varied from 27 euros a bottle to 6,750 euros, that last bottle perhaps for when Elton toddles down Mont Boron. We pushed the boat out at a respectable 36 euros for a light fragrant rose, St Margeurite. The bill for half a bottle of sparkling Lurisia water, wine at 36 euros, one espresso at 3 euros and 2 'menu de Midi' at 30 euros came to 104 euros.

La Reserve
60 Boulevard Franck Pilatte
06300 Nice
tel 04 97 08 29 98 and 04 97 08 14 80
fax 04 93 14 68 73

More restaurants in Nice

More information about the Port of Nice

My website www.allaboutNice.com