Grub’s up! Grab a seat around the large communal table for 15 guests, tucked away inside a nicely decorated former butcher’s shop in Marseille (black and white checkerboard tile floors, wine bottle green tile backsplash). As this text was being written (in the fall of 2022), it was time for François Roche (alias Francis the Knife, ex-Septime and Frenchie in Paris) to take the reins of this coolinaire residency, brought to you by the team behind Le Parpaign qui Flotte. The night we went, sent out for the whole table: beautiful button mushrooms under a veil of aged feta; cheeky butterflied sardine grilled over binchotan, lounging atop eggplant cream, and pimped out with pickled fresh Espelette peppers, plus an incredible strawberry-chili condiment; tantalizing squash and sage agnolotti topped with XO sauce; lavish stuffed cabbage taken to new heights by a rich favouille crab bisque, with citron kosho and kasha; before a mouthwatering mandarin granita, followed by a deliriously good Breton shortbread with quince and fig leaf sabayon. // Victoria Bout
FEELING THIRSTY? There’s a selection of around 20 natural wines unearthed and sourced by Santiago Fuego: a biodynamic Chenin from François Plouzeau (€8 a glass), a fruity Loire Cabernet franc from Xavier Courant (€30 a bottle), or Michel Michel, an orange wine produced by Camille and Mathias Marquet of the iconic Château Lestignac (€32).
PRICE: Tasting menu €56.
