foodies in French Riviera - restaurant resources?
 

Hi all,

My husband and I are traveling to Italy and France with our 9 year old twins in June. We love food, and enjoy eating authentic, rustic, local cuisine more than in Michelin star restaurants. Also, we live in Northern California and don't want to eat California cuisine in Europe since we can get that at home whenever we want.

In Italy, my husband and I have really enjoyed using the slow food publication Osterie d'Italia. We have found the restaurants in this book to be wonderful and have purchased the new edition for this upcoming trip. For the France portion of our itinerary, we will be in Nice for two nights, and then in Antibes for seven nights. Are there any books or resources for that region of France that are similar to Osterie d'Italia? We'd like to eat simple, traditional French food of the highest quality (bistros?).

Thank you so much!

Daria

The best is the Michelin Red Guide. Look for restaurants with one set of cutlery. Look online under: www.viamichelin.com. Or just walk around and look at the menus.

Hello,

You may either look at the travel guide Le Routard, or at the website La fourchette. I am afraid they are not available in English...

Thank you! I should have mentioned, it doesn't need to be in English.

Also, Michelin Red Guide would be suitable even though we don't want anything fancy or fussy? I associate Michelin stars with restaurants like French Laundry, Per Se, Alinea and that is not what we want. Thanks again.

In addition to the starred restaurants the Red Michelin Guide includes more modest recommendations, especially restaurants that are a good value for the price.

The best Michelin restaurant around here is neither fussy nor fancy and bears no resemblance to French Laundry or Per Se, or Alinea. The waitress usually wears jeans. The lowest-priced menu is 28 euros for 4 courses, plus ameuses-gueles, plus extra little dessert items. The food is superb and the setting absolutely delightful, especially outside in the garden in summer. It's probably true that there is nothing much comparable in very expensive Provence, but just so you know, there is no one Michelin "mold."

Plus, as mentioned, the Michelin Red Guide is far more than a guide to starred restaurants.

I like 'la Voute' in Antibes. you eat in the basement - hence the name with jazz And the food was above average

>>Also, Michelin Red Guide would be suitable even though we don't want anything fancy or fussy? <<

The Michelin Red Guide has thousands of restaurants. Each restaurant that makes it into the guide is good. But only 1 per cent of them are marked with stars.

The Red Guide has two rating systems. One is the number of cutleries - from one to five. The other is the the stars - from zero to three. And there is the Bib Gourmand, which means "excellent food, moderately priced". The Bib Gourmand restaurants are a rare species, excellent in value for money, but probably to good for your palate.

According to your preferences, you will be fine with the restaurants which are marked by one set of cutlery (or two) in the Red Guide.

I have used this website:

http://www.guidegantie.com/en/restaurants/index.php

It does have recommended restaurants to suit all price brackets.