restaurant

La Mercerie

La Mercerie (Marseille)

© Laura Vidal

  • Dates

    Published on

    Updated on

  • share

Best known for having livened up the Hôtel Nord-Pinus in Arles during the summer months, the trio behind Paris Popup (Julia Mitton, Laura Vidal and Harry Cummins) cast their anchor in Marseille back in 2018. In this old haberdashery in the working-class Noailles neighborhood (granito tile floors, stripped-bare walls, a chestnut wood bar), the British chef (ex-Frenchie in Paris) audaciously stitches together some sensational menus. The night we went, the chef’s menu included: tasty cherry tomatoes from Bandol, tucked into homemade ricotta and intensified by wild arugula; spellbinding monkfish liver cubes tickled by kombu confit, mirin and sesame oil; graceful dry-aged bluefin tuna sashimi, glazed with a grilled tuna head oil, and seasoned with shiso, fermented melon and Andaliman pepper; rich coco de Paimpol beans in a spicy sauce thickened by crab roe, Thai basil and tourteau crabmeat; an incredible deboned, barbecued leg of lamb with garlicky haricots verts, taggiasche olives and a big braised shallot deglazed in Banyuls vinegar; before sliced peach with a pear jelly and a creamy fig leaf ice cream, for the very light dessert. // A.S.

FEELING THIRSTY? Laura only uncorks bottles of natural wine: a sparkling Vouvray from Paul Breton (€7 a glass), a Provence orange wine from Laura Aillaud (€10), La Souteronne, an Ardèche red from Hervé Souhaut (€40 a bottle), a Chablis from De Moor (€60), a Saint-Aubin white from Dominique Derain (€99)…

PRICE: Fixed-price menus €28-32 (lunch) and €51 (dinner).

Save this spot in the Fooding app, available on iOS! Download it now in the app store.

The new Fooding Belgium Guide is now available to pre-order!

In this fourth bilingual, bi-flavored edition (French from the front, Dutch from the back), discover 150 brand-new addresses across Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia, our ten hotly anticipated award winners celebrating the very best of Belgitude, plus a Nord-Zuid magazine supplement crossing linguistic borders in search of the only language all Belgians agree on: good food.

The new Fooding Belgium Guide frontcover
PRE-ORDER NOW!
About

Le Fooding is a print and digital guide to all the restaurants, chefs, bars, stylish hotels and B&Bs that make up the “taste of the times,” plus an annual awards list for new establishments across France and Belgium, a series of gastronomic events, a tool that allows you to make reservations at some fantastic bistros, and an agency specialized in event planning, content production and consulting…

Fooding® is a registered trademark.