Vanessa Massé – a highly knowledgeable wine lover who used to work at In de Wulf in Belgium – opened her lovely, sophisticated bistro on an unassuming street in Nice back in 2018. What should you expect? A somewhat chilly interior (grey walls, dark hardwood floors, a few polished wood tables), warmed up by Vanessa’s volcanic enthusiasm and the radical compositions made by her Danish chef Mads Thomsen (ex-Marchal in Copenhagen), a saucier with a sorcerer’s touch! The last time we went, the €80 tasting menu had a thing or two to teach us: delicious leerfish sashimi touched by the grace of a cider and browned butter reduction, cherries and tarragon; an experimental steak tartare with fourme d’Ambert cheese, buckwheat and paprika for added zing; an intense red pepper trio prepared three ways (an emulsion, grilled and puréed) paired with a sea bream fillet poached in oil; an alchemic, full-bodied chicken and ginger jus, galvanizing eggplant cooked in miso with a slice of dry-aged pork; before a creamy white peach panna cotta under a hibiscus tuile, then a savory miso crumble with lavender cream for dessert! // A.A.
FEELING THIRSTY? Pure natural wines: a Solognot red from Julien Courtois (€10 a glass), a Sarthe sparkling wine from Jean-Pierre Robinot (€50 a bottle), a Le Bugey Jacquère from Caroline Ledédenté (€48), an Auvergne Gamay from Patrick Bouju (€69)…
PRICE: Menus €80 and €100 (food and wine pairings + €65 and €85).
Save this spot in the Fooding app, available on iOS! Download it now in the app store.
