Nice: Bistrot Gourmand

August 19, 2013 I arrived in Nice with Cristina at 6 in the evening.  We picked up our rental car and on asking for the car in largest trunk space in the class we got upgraded to a Peugeot Tepee.  Two bikes, two big pieces of luggage and two small pieces of luggage could all be easily arranged in the trunk and the trunk cover pulled over the lot.  It's an ugly car but gets the job done nicely.


 

Our hotel was apparently 12 minutes away.  That's if you knew where it was however.  Our GPS kept talking to us but didn't give us the directions to our hotel.  I was sure I could locate the hotel on the map but we kept driving past the street it was on over and over, unable to see the street name on the narrow pedestrian filled road that it ended up being on.   https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=jl

We had reservations at Bistrot Gourmand, a Michelin one-starred restaurant at 8:15 p.m., which I thought was plenty of time.  To make the reservations we had to confirm the day of the reservation, which I did from Frankfurt.  Then in Nice we advised of the delays 3 times before we showed up at 9:30 p.m.  We were greeted like they couldn't wait to see us and the telephone advices from us were the greatest courtesy they could imagine.  We were treated with excellent service and a meal that made all the frustrations fade away into our wine glasses. 

 

To start our meal a tasting spoon of rabbit terrine and a small cup of a chanterelle foam soup was offered to us.  The soup was especially delicious.

 

I chose a white wine from the local Bellet appellation which is found on the hillsides of Nice. This appellation is so small even most wine lovers who don't live in Nice have never heard of it.  Still, I have learned to try the local wines in France, in particular, to discover more about wine and more about the region I am visiting.  (For more on the Bellet AOC see: http://www.vinsdebellet.com/aoc/aoc.html (in French) and http://belletwine.com/bellet-aoc/ (in English).)  This try was worth it.  The wines are such small production that they are relatively expensive, however the quality is high. 

 

The wine we drank was he 2011 Domaine de la Source AOC Bellet white wine from Dalmasso.  It was a very attractive light sparkling gold color and tasted like a chardonnay but more fruity.  It had an orange peel quality that made it distinctive and mirrored one of my dishes surprisingly.  50+5+12+17+7=91.

 

My first dish was an artichoke salad.  Then Cristina and I both ordered a Ravioli de Gambas (prawns) and then we each ordered filets of St. Pierre (John Dory) but done differently.

The artichoke salad was a revelation.  White artichokes, sliced thinly mixed with rocket salad greens and a light dressing with truffle oil.  Cristina didn't want to share the dish but did want to try it.  Once she did, she ended up eating more than I did!  The artichokes were firm and crunchy but thin enough to work just perfectly.  The flavours complemented each other and this dish was both simple and the combination created complex flavours.

 

The Ravioli de Gambas was two large raviolis in a shrimp foam sauce that was light and exciting to the taste buds.  I used the large spoon provided to pick up as much as I could and wiped the bowl with bread to leave nothing for the plongeurs (dishwashers).

 

My St. Pierre filet was plated with a mash of candied orange peel with citric fruits  and vegetables that brought out the taste of this delicious white flaky fish but was not acidic enough to compete with it.  Cristina's was served with a chanterelle sauce with whole mushrooms placed on top.  Very good but didn't provide the counterpoint that was so well provided by my version.  Cristina thought mine was the better choice although she enjoyed hers too.

 

I highly recommend Bistrot Gourmand which clearly deserves its one Michelin star and offers a very good value for this kind of quality restaurant in France.