It took me close to two months to finally sit down and circle back to our France trip. The photos had been looming on my camera, taunting me to edit them everytime I browsed through my SLR. We had such a wonderful time during our stay in Nice, and we’re pretty devastated when we heard the terrible things that had happened in July. During our stay we encountered nothing but, gracious locals willing to help, take our picture (which can be so annoying), and put up with our terrible French. One day we will most certainly go back, but until then I’ll be reminiscing (my taste buds included) on our delicious eats, fabulous shopping, and gorgeous sea views. Enjoy part one of our guide to Nice, France!

Where to Eat

I’ll get down to the good stuff first, the food! All I can say is do your research! If you’re planning on making a trip don’t just settle for the closest restaurant. There are plenty of hidden gems with wonderful food, and even better cocktails. We did plenty of browsing on Yelp and TripAdvisor and picked several places that seemed like must-eats. Most reviews on TripAdvisor will even go into detail about how they were treated, the prices, and of course, their favorite dishes. Below are our favorite spots:

La Massara:

11 rue Halévy, Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

All I can say is you’ve officially entered thin-crust pizza heaven. We were blown away by how fresh and delicate the pizza was, not to mention the chili oil was over the top. For a starter we split an order of the Mussels, made in the most buttery broth. For our entree we ordered the Diavola pizza which came with a mountain of freshly shaved parmigiano reggiano.

L’ybane

1 rue de la Liberte | 06000 Nice, France

L’ybane was the first restaurant we went to during our stay. We were craving something fresh after not eating so well on the train, and mediterranean food sounded incredible. We arrived around 7pm which meant there was plenty of seating, so we opted to sit on the patio and do some people watching. Our waiter was incredibly friendly and helped recommend a ½ bottle of rose and several different beers. I ended up with a grilled chicken plate, which was totally satisfying, especially when paired with the tzatziki and fresh pita. Kevin opted to go with the kofta with was clearly the standout dish. The orders are pretty big, and we definitely ate more than we intended, so dessert was out of the question. However, their menu had plenty of delicious sounding options.
 

L’Ecurie

4 rue du Marche | Old Nice, 06300 Nice, France

On our final night in Nice we made the mistake of waiting till the last minute to make a reservation at another eatery. When we arrived they ended up not having room for us, and we had to walk around to find another option. L’Ecurie was pretty close and looked crowded, but we decided to try to get a seat anyways. We lucked out and were able to get a table for two outside. Our waiter was super friendly, and a little flirtatious - but, luckily Kev took it well. I ended up going with the special, which was lasagna and Kev ordered the stewed beef and polenta. My order can in a steaming hot round and was the perfect example of a well-layered pasta. Aside from being a huge order the bolognese complimented everything perfectly, especially our wine selection. The stewed beef was delicious and tasted like it had been cooking for hours. We ended our meal by splitting the Crème brûlée, which was caramelized and very rich!    

Le Four à Bois

35 rue Droite | Vieux-Nice, 06300 Nice, France

Our second Airbnb was right around the corner from this bakery. We walked by several times before deciding that a snack was necessary. We each got a freshly baked ham & cheese croissant, which from the lack of pictures could only mean that we devoured them.

xoxo,

Birdie

* Most of our food images were taken on our iPhones, so I apologize that the quality isn't top-notch! Top Image credit: Tomasz Rynkiewicz