Food in Nice, France: What to Eat & Best Restaurants [2024]
The food in Nice, France is a delightful, delicious surprise.
More than just a gorgeous coastal paradise – Nice is also a treasure trove of interesting and unique foods to eat, thanks to the blend of traditional Provençal, Mediterranean, and Italian culinary influences. One of the best things to do on your Nice itinerary is eat your way through the city!
One thing I find fascinating about the food scene here is that there are actually a lot of dishes unique to the city of Nice itself – not just the Provence region.
I’ve been to Nice three times, spending well over 2 weeks total in this beautiful city. I’ve made it a point to discover and try as many traditional and delicious foods as I can, so I can help you plan for your trip to the French Riviera!
(It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it 😉)
In this guide, I’m sharing what to eat in Nice, France and some of my favorite restaurants in the city! At the end of the post, you’ll find tips for dining in France.
Provencal Food Tour in Nice
This food tour is a great way to try a wide variety of the very best and most delicious Niçoise and Provencal cuisine. You’ll walk around Old Town, sampling 20+ foods, plus olive oil and wine. I did this tour on my latest visit to Nice and it was absolutely delightful!
What to Eat in Nice – Food in Nice, France You Need to Try
In this section, I’m going to run through all the Nicoise specialties and regional cuisine you need to eat in Nice. For each dish, I’ll also mention a great restaurant or location where I ate it. The cuisine in Nice is one great reason to visit the French Riviera, so let’s get right into the list!
1. Salade Niçoise
Salade Niçoise is one of the most well-known foods in Nice, and is a popular dish, usually served as a starter salad (not a main dish).
This salad has a lot of ingredients, and everyone makes their salad a little differently. However, all the components complement each other well and make for a refreshing salad when you’re sitting out on a terrace under the bright Mediterranean sun.
Salad Niçoise typically includes leafy greens, hard-boiled eggs, tuna and/or anchovies, tomatoes, and olives. Generally, it is served with an olive oil + balsamic vinegar dressing.
Sometimes raw green beans, red peppers, shallots, artichokes, or boiled potatoes are added as well. (Although it’s more common to see boiled potatoes added to this salad outside of France).
And look, I was pretty nervous about a salad that had both tuna AND anchovies (definitely not my favorite types of fish), but the fish was fresh and added a little bit of salty-savory flavor to the salad.
Recommended Restaurant: Le Safari
2. Tarte de Blettes
Tourte de Blettes is a pastry filled with a surprising ingredient: swiss chard! The pastry can either be sweet or savory (although sweet is more common).
The Swiss chard (or blettes) is a commonly used vegetable in Nice. In the tart, it is pureed and mixed with raisins and pine nuts to create a sweet, soft filling.
I didn’t see these in any boulangeries (bakeries) in Nice, rather they were offered as desserts in restaurants.
Where to Eat: I had both the sweet and savory versions of tourte de blettes on my Nice food tour.
3. Socca
If there’s one local specialty you absolutely cannot miss during your stay in Nice, it’s socca. Socca is a thin, lightly crispy pancake-like dish made with chickpea flour.
I have two places to eat in Nice that I’d recommend you get socca from. The first is Chez Theresa, a massively popular stand in Old Town that absolutely lives up to the hype. The socca is hot, fresh, and has a great texture.
- Chez Theresa: (open 9am-3pm)
The second place is Chez Pipo, a sit-down restaurant near the Port that offers some interesting socca flavors. We got the socca parmigiana, which had just a very light parmigiana flavor, but was insanely delicious.
I didn’t like the plain socca as much here, I much preferred the parmigiana or the socca at Chez Theresa.
Quick Pronunciation/Language Note: Chez is pronounced like “shay” and Chez Theresa is the equivalent of saying “Theresa’s house”.
Chez Pipo: Open Wednesday-Sunday
4. Pan Bagnat
Pan Bagnat is essentially a sandwich version of Salade Niçoise. It features tuna, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and peppers, which are stuffed inside a circular crusty bun. You can find these in many boulangeries around town!
5. Fleur de Courgette Farcis
This dish is stuffed zucchini (courgette) flowers – yeah, it seems a little strange, but I loved this dish! Zucchini flowers are filled with ground meat, fried, and served with a red sauce. The result is a light, yet savory and flavorful dish.
I ordered this solely on the server’s recommendation, and I’m glad I did.
Restaurant recommendation: Le Tchitchou
6. Pissaladière
I think of pissaladière as almost being in the same category as socca – it’s generally a finger food and can often be found at takeaway spots. Pissaladière has a thicker crust, similar to pizza, but is topped with an anchovy paste, olives, and a heavy dose of caramelized onions.
Again, like with the Salade Niçoise, I would recommend not writing this one off just because of the anchovies – it gives it a savory, salty flavor and is definitely worth trying in Nice.
Where to Eat: I had pissaladière at Chez Pipo, as well as on my Nice food tour
7. Olive Oil
Olive oil is produced in Provence, and if you do any day trips from Nice, you may notice some olive trees in the countryside. Traditional Provencal oil has a distinct flavor compared to other varieties of olive oil, almost like a black olive, although you will find many types of olive oil in and around Nice.
Salads in Nice are almost always served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but you can also purchase olive oil at boutiques in Old Town, such as Alziari Olive Oil.
We also did an olive oil tasting on our Nice food tour.
8. Gelato
Okay, this is a bit of a stretch – gelato certainly isn’t a uniquely Nice food. However, gelato can be found aaaaalll over the city, and the gelato here is absolutely fantastic. There are a lot of options for gelato in Nice, but these are my three favorites:
Azzurro: This is my top favorite gelato place, just down the street from the cathedral at Place Rossetti. Get the creme brulée flavor!
Fenocchio: This is probably the most popular and well-known gelato stand in Old Town Nice – it’s located right in Place Rossetti and has dozens of flavors.
Glacier Marie Louise: A small, unassuming stand in the north part of Old Town with delicious flavors.
9. Petite Farcis Niçoise
Petite farcis niçoise are stuffed vegetables, and usually involve tomatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini (not zucchini flowers), that have been stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and herbs and spices, and then baked.
While there are some similarities to the stuffed zucchini flowers, petite farcis niçoise is certainly a distinct dish.
Where to Eat: I enjoyed this dish on my Nice food tour.
10. Daube Provencal
Daube Provencal (or Niçoise if it has mushrooms) is a beef stew made with braised beef, a red wine stew, herbs and spices, plus onions, carrots, and mushrooms. It is normally served over polenta or pasta, and in this dish I ate, it was served over house-made ravioli.
*chefs kiss*
The daube was deliciously flavorful – the most exquisite comfort food, and I loved it paired with the ravioli.
Restaurant Recommendation: Le Safari
Other Typical French Food to Eat in Nice
11. French Cheese from Fromageries
To me, France is almost synonymous with cheese, and it’s such a fun experience to sample a lot of different traditional French cheeses while in the country.
While you can get fromage (cheese) from a grocery store, head into a fromagerie (a cheese shop) for the absolute best cheese selection.
You can ask the fromager (cheese maker) for suggestions and recommendations and specify how big of a slice you would like. They’ll wrap it up in paper and the whole experience just feels – and tastes – so authentic.
Pair it with a baguette from the nearest boulangerie and you’ve got a simple, easy, and delicious lunch.
Fromageries in Nice & near old town that I’ve been to and recommend:
- La Ferme Fromagere: 3 Rue Maccara
- Lou Froumai: 4 Rue Sainte-Reparate
- Via Latina: 12 Boulevard Jean Jaurès
A short list of cheeses to try:
- Comté (my favorite!)
- Tomme de Savoie
- Cantal
- Brie de Meaux
- Camembert
12. Pastries
We always stop by the nearest boulangerie to pick up pastries for breakfast. I am personally fond of a croissant aux amandes (croissant sliced and filled with almond cream) or a croissant. Matthew loves the pain au raisin (a flaky pastry that is shaped like a cinnamon roll with soft raisins).
While you truly can get delicious pastries just about anywhere, Boulangerie Jeannot is a beautiful, historic bakery in Old Town that serves excellent pastries and coffee.
13. Crepes
Crepes are large, thin pancakes that are filled with sweet (and sometimes savory) fillings and served as a triangle. They are extremely popular in France and around the world.
While you can find a lot of street food carts selling crepes in Paris, in Nice you really can only get them from a sit-down café or restaurant.
In the picture above, I got the salted caramel crepe, and my mom got the sugar + lime crepe. Sugar + citrus is a very popular flavor among the French, and is really tasty!
Pronunciation Tip: Also, I am begging, BEGGING you, to pronounce crepes correctly while in France. 😉 The first “e” in crepes is pronounced like the ‘e’ in “fed”, and you don’t pronounce the “es” at the end.
Recommended Restaurant: Le Pass’Port Nice
14. Macarons
Macarons, the beloved French cookie, are little sandwich cookies made with almond flour, in a variety of sweet and fruity flavors, and are filled with buttercream, meringue, or ganache.
My favorite place to get macarons is Angea, the most adorable little macaron boutique. In addition to “regular” macarons, you can also get giant macarons filled with gelato!
Angea Nice Address: 6, rue de la Poissonnerie
A Few Other Good Restaurants in Nice
While these restaurants don’t necessarily serve “traditional Niçoise cuisine,” they offer delicious food and I’d wholeheartedly recommend them.
➡️Piperno
Located along Cours Saleya, Piperno specializes in delicious, wood-fired pizza. I can highly recommend the pesto!
➡️Route des Inde
Route des Inde is an Indian restaurant just off of Place Rossetti in Old Town. This restaurant serves up what seriously was the best Indian food I think I’ve ever had. It’s definitely not “regional cuisine”, but if you’re craving a little variety or just want some savory, comfort food, this restaurant should be at the top of your list.
I’m sad I don’t have a picture of the food for you – my mom and I picked this up as takeout and ate it at our apartment after having a fairly difficult experience that afternoon. Normally, I always take pictures of my food, but I just dug into the Indian dishes, and it was the perfect comfort food.
➡️Marché aux Fleurs
Okay, it’s not one of the French restaurants in Nice (not even a restaurant), but I couldn’t write a post about cuisine and foods to eat in Nice without mentioning the Marché aux Fleurs. Although it’s called the Flower Market, this lively, bustling market is filled with produce, olives, dates, jams, cheese, candies, and so, so many more interesting and delicious things to eat.
If you want to get a taste of Provencal cuisine, wander through this market. There are even some stands that sell hot foods to eat immediately.
The Marché aux Fleurs is open Tuesday-Sunday from about 7am-1pm. On Mondays there is an antique market.
Tips for Eating in Nice
Whether you spend a few days or a full week on the French Riviera, you’ll want to take note of some of these tips for navigating restaurants in southern France.
✔️You can ask for a pitcher of water (une carafe d’eau), which is always free of charge.
✔️Most French people don’t start eating until late – 7pm at the very earliest, but 8pm and later is when French people really start heading to dinner.
✔️If you’re paying by card, the waiter or waitress will bring the card reader to the table – they never take the card from you.
✔️You will need to ask for the check, and you’ll often need to hail the server if you need something – they don’t check in with you regularly.
✔️Often, you can just seat yourself at a table at a restaurant, especially if most of the tables are out on the sidewalk.
✔️Many restaurants will be closed on Monday or Tuesday – always double-check hours.
✔️French people eat slowly and leisurely and meal times can include multiple courses that stretch over an hour or two.
✔️Tables in restaurants are often very close to each other – sometimes within just an inch or two of your neighbors. This is particularly true for indoor seating.
Foods to Eat in Nice – The Wrap Up
Nice is full of delicious local specialties and excellent French cuisine. There are plenty of dishes to eat your way through as you spend time in one of my favorite cities in the French Riviera!
To wrap up this post, I’ll plug the food tour I did in Nice one last time – it really was the most delightful 3 hours of sampling delicious and unique foods all over the city, and is overall a great city tour in Nice.
You can read a full review of my experience on this tour here
And get more information, check prices and availability, and reserve your spot here
