--- title: "Where to eat in Nice" description: "Nice eats socca from Cours Saleya stalls, salade niçoise at authentic addresses like Chez Acchiardo, and Riviera fine dining at Jan or La Chèvre d'Or on day trips to Èze. Fenocchio handles gelato on Place Rossetti; La Merenda serves Niçoise home cooking in a tiny reservation-only room. Book La Merenda weeks ahead; market mornings and socca counters are walk-in." url: "https://travelshifu.com/eats/nice" country: "France" type: "dining guide" source: "TravelShifu" --- # Where to eat in Nice _Socca stalls, Niçoise salads and Riviera fine dining_ Nice eats socca from Cours Saleya stalls, salade niçoise at authentic addresses like Chez Acchiardo, and Riviera fine dining at Jan or La Chèvre d'Or on day trips to Èze. Fenocchio handles gelato on Place Rossetti; La Merenda serves Niçoise home cooking in a tiny reservation-only room. Book La Merenda weeks ahead; market mornings and socca counters are walk-in. ## Restaurants ### Jan **Area**: Old Town (Vieux Nice) · **Cuisine**: Modern South African-French fine dining · **Price**: $$$$ · tasting menu ~€195 · **Michelin**: 1★ · **Signature**: South African memories filtered through Riviera produce Jan brought a Michelin star to Nice with a personal story: South African roots, French Riviera produce, and a tasting menu that feels intimate rather than ceremonial in a tiny Old Town dining room. The cooking is contemporary and globally fluent without losing Mediterranean lightness. Book it when you want the splurge that is distinctly Nice rather than a generic luxury-hotel clone. ### La Merenda **Area**: Old Town (Vieux Nice) · **Cuisine**: Traditional Niçoise · **Price**: $$ · dinner €30–€45 · **Signature**: Stockfish stew (stockfish brandade) and raviolis à la daube La Merenda is the Niçoise institution with no sign, no website and a phone that busy signals for weeks: a tiny Old Town room serving stockfish brandade, raviolis and dishes you will not find on tourist menus. Cash-friendly, reservation-only, and the meal locals still treat as the benchmark for Vieux Nice cooking. If you eat one traditional dinner in Nice, this is the address worth the planning. ### Chez Acchiardo **Area**: Port area (Lympia) · **Cuisine**: Traditional Niçoise · **Price**: $$ · lunch €20–€35 · **Signature**: Authentic salade niçoise — no cooked potato, no green beans Chez Acchiardo serves the salade niçoise purists demand: tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, olives — without the cooked potato and green beans tourist versions add. The Port-area room is plain, the cooking is grandmother-recipe Niçoise, and the lunch crowd skews local. Closed weekends; book a weekday table and order whatever the board recommends. ### Cocchiuto (Cours Saleya socca) **Area**: Old Town (Cours Saleya market) · **Cuisine**: Socca street stall · **Price**: $ · socca €3–€5 · **Signature**: Socca — chickpea-flour crêpe cooked in a wood oven Socca is Nice's edible icon: thin chickpea batter poured into a copper pan and baked in a wood oven until crisp-edged and creamy within. Cours Saleya stalls have served it for generations — point, pay, eat standing with paper napkins and sea air. No reservations, no seating, and the cheapest meal that still tastes like the Riviera. Go in the morning when the oven is hottest. ### Fenocchio **Area**: Old Town (Place Rossetti) · **Cuisine**: Artisan gelato · **Price**: $ · gelato €3–€6 · **Signature**: Dozens of flavours — lavender, rose, olive oil among them Fenocchio is the gelato pilgrimage on Place Rossetti: dozens of flavours from lavender to tomato, served from a shopfront that has drawn queues since 1966. Tourists know it, locals still respect it, and the quality justifies the wait on a warm Riviera afternoon. No seating — eat while wandering the Old Town alleys. ### Le Bistrot d'Antoine **Area**: Old Town (Vieux Nice) · **Cuisine**: Niçoise bistro · **Price**: $$$ · dinner €40–€60 · **Signature**: Petits farcis and daily Niçoise market plates Le Bistrot d'Antoine serves Vieux Nice cooking with bistro polish: petits farcis (stuffed vegetables), market fish, and a wine list heavy on Provence rosé and local whites. The room is small and fills with visitors who want something between La Merenda's phone-only ritual and tourist-trap promenade menus. Book ahead in summer; request a terrace table if available. ### Peixes **Area**: Old Town (Vieux Nice) · **Cuisine**: Seafood counter dining · **Price**: $$$ · dinner €35–€55 · **Signature**: Daily catch — oysters, grilled fish, seafood platters Peixes is Nice's modern seafood counter: daily catch displayed on ice, cooked simply and served at a lively Vieux Nice bar that feels more Mediterranean port than luxury promenade. The format suits solo eaters and couples who want pristine fish without the full La Chèvre d'Or pilgrimage to Èze. Book ahead in peak season; walk in off-peak for counter seats. ### Château Eza (La Chèvre d'Or) **Area**: Èze village (day trip from Nice) · **Cuisine**: Riviera haute cuisine · **Price**: $$$$ · tasting menu ~€250+ · **Michelin**: 1★ · **Signature**: Mediterranean tasting menu with cliffside views over the Riviera La Chèvre d'Or in medieval Èze is the Riviera splurge Nice visitors plan as a half-day trip: one Michelin star, a terrace suspended over the coast, and a tasting menu that treats Mediterranean produce with ceremonial precision. It is not in Nice proper — allow transport time from the city — but the view and the room are the meal many travellers remember longest. Book lunch for daylight over the sea. ## What is socca and where should you eat it in Nice? Socca is a thin chickpea-flour crêpe baked in a wood oven — Nice's street-food icon. Eat it standing at Cours Saleya market stalls in the morning when ovens are hottest. Price is a few euros. No reservations; point, pay, eat immediately while crisp. ## What belongs in an authentic salade niçoise? Traditional salade niçoise includes tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, Niçoise olives and olive oil — not cooked potato or green beans, which tourist versions often add. Chez Acchiardo serves the purist version. Ask if unsure; Riviera cooks have strong opinions. ## How do you book La Merenda in Nice? La Merenda takes phone reservations only — no website. Call weeks ahead, especially in summer. Cash-friendly. The room is tiny and turnover is slow. If you cannot get in, Le Bistrot d'Antoine and Chez Acchiardo are the backup plan. ## How much does eating out in Nice cost? Socca and market snacks run €3–€10, bistro dinners €30–€60, and Michelin tasting menus €195–€250+. Nice is Riviera-priced at the top tier but market mornings stay affordable. Promenade tourist menus are poor value — eat in Vieux Nice. --- Canonical HTML: https://travelshifu.com/eats/nice