The Aesthetic Pleasures of Nice, France part 3 (in which we eat!)

After consuming all of that art we were hungry! As happens all too frequently to us over here, we were in one of those awkward situations where our appetites didn’t quite align with the French meal time customs. We were too late for the lunch service at Le Plongeoir {The Diving Board},

but it wasn’t quite dinner time yet, so we watched the ferry pull out of the Port de Nice and head to Sardinia.

This cool little restaurant has quite a history, at the end of the 19th century there was a boat perched upon this rock that was the restaurant Le Belle Époque where people enjoyed dining out in the waves {see photo at bottom of post}. In the 40’s the boat started to break down so they built this hip little perch in its place {no diving allowed, the platforms are just for show}.

Next door to Le Plongeoir is the famed La Reserve, a restaurant I’d heard great things about but hadn’t visited yet. On this day they came to our rescue when they opened at 6pm, we wore our stars and stripes proudly, being the only people dining at that hour. The restaurant has a feeling of a 1930’s cruise ship, with dark wood walls and amazing views out to the sea all around. Sometimes I worry about restaurants with the great views, because they can get away with mediocre food and people will stil come for the scenery, but this was not the case at La Reserve.

We started with a sip of champagne, and then lovely plates of amuse bouches {small bites to entertain the mouth before dinner} arrived, a precursor of many more delightful things to come. Each dish was absolutely delectable and artfully presented.

I started with the Pomme Blanche {White Apple} which offered a bed of crab topped with a nest of granny smith apple matchsticks and then a creamy ball which had more crab and apple along with celery and tarragon. What a creative display, look at those fabulous apple green polka dots on the plate. It was an amazing combination of flavors and textures to consume!

 

My friend had the witty “King Prawn has a Fling with Zucchini”  served on a plate with concentric circles of a fennel and prawn aioli, the flavorful loaf was wrapped in zucchini slices and topped with a crunchy zucchini blossom.

The Filet Mignon of Veal was a stylish interpretation of the traditional Blanquette de Veau with lightly steamed vegetables, crunchy leaves of baby romaine lettuce and a splatter of blanquette sauce.

I don’t usually order deserts, but the ingredient list for the Plaisirs de Menton included some of my favorite things: Menton, citrus, meringues, amaretti, lemon sorbet and citron vert {lime} zest. I don’t know what was more beautiful, the appearance of this beautiful little concoction or the melody in my mouth as I enjoyed all of those crunchy, smooth, creamy, tart and sweet notes.

Like a proper yacht, everything from the food, service and decor were ship~shape, even the classic terry hand towels in the marbled powder room were perfectly stacked,

and made me think of the Dior plates we had seen earlier that morning.

From morning to night it was an aesthetically pleasing day for sure. Thank you for coming along to relive it with me.

Here is the promised shot of the original restaurant on the rocks and also a glimpse of La Reserve back in the early 1900’s,

a  Belle Époque {Beautiful Time}, indeed.