You reap what you bistro! After living in London for a stint, the Italian-Brazilian couple of Federico Bruschetta (a former natural wine distributor) and Carolina Nogueira de Mello headed south and set up shop on a charming pedestrian street in the Vieux-Port neighborhood of La Ciotat. Their tiny spot is all done up with shades of blue and wooden details: vintage furniture, cement tiles, wine posters and shelves heavy with low-intervention bottles from both near and far. Pop one open in house (or take it go) along with a few of Carolina’s beautiful plates. The night we went, they included: a flavor-packed slice of pork and sun-dried tomato terrine, jazzed up by some crunchy piccalilli (cauliflower, carrots, onions and zucchini); zingy melon, cucumber and ginger gazpacho, nourished with a lovely spoonful of homemade labneh and pickled onions; masterfully made pork and sage polpette striking a perfect balance over a bed of roasted carrots and potatoes, with miso-glazed shallots lounging on a flavor-packed eggplant and black garlic purée; fregola sarda risotto with zucchini cream, fresh mint and giant Parmesan shavings; before a rustic apricot tart with crème anglaise and marinated strawberries. // Maud Zarella

FEELING THIRSTY? Your options are strong here, with a generous selection of natural, cosmopolitan and rare wines: a Piedmont red produced by Silvio Morando (€7 a glass), prosecco from the Domaine Malibràn (€42 a bottle), and a beautiful Georgian skin-contact wine from Chona’s Marani (€38).
PRICE: : Appetizers €11-14, mains €18-22, cheeses and desserts €10.