Sacrificing flavor isn’t necessary in the endeavor to get good food and drinks that are healthy, organic or made locally. Here are our 25 favorite spots to get a healthy, freshly made pastry, lunch, glass of wine, brunch, dinner and everything in between in Nice.
The Best Places to Eat Healthy and Fresh in Nice:
- Le Vanillier
- Babel Babel
- Koko Green
- Café Marché
- Allez Hops!
- Poké Lov
- Froggy Gourmet
- La Cave de Stéphane
- SAJ
- Miamici
- Le Potiron Gourmet
- Boucherie La Corne d’Or
- Amour Pâtisserie
- Jean de la Tomate
- La Casa della Burrata
- Ferme de la Sauréa
- The Fit Kitchen
- Domaine Lessatini
- Le Goût de Nice
- Pota’Jus
- Jean-Pierre Tarpi
- Keisuke Matsushima
- Clay
- La Belle Saison
- Ma Yucca
1. Le Vanillier
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Famous among foodies in Nice and elsewhere, François Ducroux has a new motto: “desugar” his creations as much as possible. The pastry and chocolate maker has recently created a little marvel, a vegan macaron that’s free of gluten, lactose, preservatives and additives, but still has a lot of flavor! Round sweets made from crushed almonds, bursting with local fruit zest and crystallized flowers. As for his gâteau, the new bestseller is called le gâteau Terre, made with chocolate and pecans, and no sugar, gluten or lactose. He’s returning to simple and healthy tastes. — 7 avenue Auber, website
2. Babel Babel
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This trendy new address is a promised land for healthy and tasty apéro dînatoires. The menu, which is quite short, honors the Mediterranean region and local products. Grilled fish from local fishers, beet ravioli, kubenia… everything is fresh and homemade. As for cocktails, expect inventiveness and quality ingredients: whisky distilled in the Hautes-Alpes, homemade syrups, vodka distilled in Vidauban, natural wines… The cocktails are impossible to resist. Enjoy one facing the sea to the soundtrack of soul, funk and hip-hop. — 2, cité du Parc, website
3. Koko Green
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This vegan and vegetarian café-restaurant is the creation of New Zealand chef Nicholas and Mélina, a naturopath by training. Both are passionate about food that is lively, nutritious, and capable of reconciling taste buds, body and mind. The chef is doubly inventive in creating his organic and gluten-free dishes with infinitely rich and delicate flavors. The menu changes every week and offers a cooked and a raw main course. Eggplant cannelloni, Vietnamese crêpes, carbrawnara pizza, nutritious smoothies, cold pressed juices… everything is done to order. A real delight even for non-vegetarians. Reservations are recommended. — 1, rue de la Loge, website
4. Café Marché
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Le Café Marché in Vieux-Nice is a culinary jewel, cozy and warm. Two sisters, Emilie and Maud, concoct a healthy and creative market cuisine at lunchtime. Simple dishes with accents: homemade soups or minced chicken in coconut milk and vegetable wok. A decadent brunch is served on the weekends. The menu changes daily according to the ingredients available. It’s a place where you’ll want to sit back and let the time go by. — 2 Barillerie Street, website
5. Allez Hops!
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Julie, Daniel and Arthur created their own curated beer cellar in 2016. A luminous space with scents of bittersweet hops, where they offer an excellent selection of traditional beers (500 French and international options are available). Above all, the establishment gives priority on beers from the Côte d’Azur and the South. The trio also produces its own beer, la Bleue, lauded by connoisseurs, in white, blond or black coffee versions. For Christmas, a new homemade beer joins the shelves: a blond roasted vanilla beer. — 15, rue Défly, website
6. Poké Lov
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Poké Lov is a new Hawaiian restaurant created by Anouchka and Matthieu, two globetrotters who had the idea of starting the place after living in Canada. For lunch and dinner, the duo offers authentic poké bowls, combining diet and delicacies. Colorful and complete dishes to fill up on, made with white or brown rice, raw or torch-cooked fish, fruit and vegetables, and a homemade sauce. The ultra-fresh ingredients are delivered the same day. A real treat that can be enjoyed on the spot, with your feet in fine white sand, or to go. — 10, rue Alberti, website
7. Froggy Gourmet
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Bruno Lépicier knows all the best products. The manager of Froggy Gourmet has built his reputation by supplying a demanding yacht clientele. Open to the general public, its find goods groceries in the quartier du port offers only high-quality products, some of which are specialties of France: fine fish, caviar, truffles, salmon hearts, Kobe beef, octopus carpaccio… — 20, rue François-Guisol, website
8. La Cave de Stéphane
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In another life, Stéphane Ulmet worked in the kitchens of Michelin-starred tables, including those of Alain Ducasse. But this oenophile decided to devote himself to his true passion by opening a wine cellar in Vieux-Nice in 2015. In this space with its contemporary design, he presents wines from owner-growers who work in an environmentally-friendly way. An ultra-special selection of about 350 wines from all over France. What makes the place special? The wines are classified by food pairings and structure rather than by region. Accessible wines offered for a wide range of prices. — 8, rue du Collet, website
9. SAJ
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No fryer is used in this intimate Lebanese restaurant. The speciality of the place is the saj, a kind of thick crêpe from Lebanon cooked in a traditional convex oven, also called the saj. Danny, a welcoming host, prepares it with organic wheat flour and seasons it, as you like, with artichokes and pine nuts, feta cheese, halloumi cheese, oriental spices… Everything is organic, and vegetarian or vegan. And the products come straight from the Saleya market. A fast, delicious and inexpensive cuisine that can be enjoyed on site or to-go. — 35, rue Droite, website
10. Miamici
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Opened this summer, this trattoria and cocktail bar combines tradition with a modern atmosphere. The cuisine is healthy and tasty, prepared in accordance with the Cretan diet, beneficial to the heart and brain. Vegetables and fruit are fresh and seasonal, and the products are 100% Italian and artisanal. The pizza is light and delicious. The secret? Chef Andrea prepares it in two stages: after having let the dough ferment in leaven for 24 hours, he adds a second flour made from whole wheat before letting the dough rest again for 24 hours. You’ll be drooling at the sight and smell. — 20, boulevard Victor-Hugo, website
11. Le Potiron Gourmet
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From the outside, it would go almost unnoticed. Yet, le Potiron Gourmet, in the Carras quarter, is indeed a hidden culinary treasure. Chef Laurent Di Chiara creates a fresh and light bistronomique cuisine with market ingredients. The menu changes every day and offers creative dishes, such as noix de veau cooked at a low temperature, mashed potatoes in olive oil, carottes glacées and a thyme jus. It satisfies the taste buds for reasonable prices. — 3, avenue de Carras, website
12. Boucherie La Corne d’Or
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At first glance, the Corne d’Or, on the Col de Villefranche, looks like a butcher’s shop like any other. It soon becomes clear that product excellence is brought to a high level here. Juri, the owner, specializes in quality French meats: Aubrac beef, Limousin veal, Bellac lamb… The animals are raised outdoors in partner family farms located in Corrèze. The pieces often come from award-winning animals. The establishment, which also does catering, also supplies its customers with Label Rouge poultry and pigs products, house-made charcuterie and, in rare cases, prestigious meats, like Black Angus, Wagyu or Kobe beef. Connoisseurs will appreciate it. — 98, corniche André-de-Joly, website
13. Amour Pâtisserie
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The head of the Vegan Gorilla restaurant with her husband Willy, Camille Bertin opened a new kind of pastry shop in 2018. Goodbye butter, lactose, eggs and gluten; its natural creations are 100% vegetable-based, mostly raw, to preserve the nutrients of the ingredients: fresh fruit, dried fruit, oilseeds, vegetable milks… The specialty is undoubtably the gâteau Amour (6€), made from marzipan, chocolate ganache and coffee. Or the Snickers, made with maple syrup caramel and soy milk. The cozy and refined establishment also offers savory snacks, such as avocado toast and focaccia. — 2, rue Foncet, website
14. Jean de la Tomate
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Bruno Ruiz, alias Jean de la Tomate, was the first to dare to bet on a 100% locavore grocery store in Nice back in 2017. Concerned about healthy eating and the local economy, the hipster-looking grocer buys products from the South region only, with a total of 200 providers. A slate on the wall announces the arrivals of the week’s fresh fruit and vegetables. In the stalls this winter, find guava feijoa grown in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, pumpkin from L’Escarène, sweet potato from Villars-sur-Var, farm eggs from La Penne, trout from Châteauroux-les-Alpes… — 3, rue Tonduti-de-l’Escarène, website
15. La Casa della Burrata
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He did his apprenticeship in gastronomic cuisine with legends Alain Ducasse and Gilles Epié. Fabio Merra, 35 years old, is the creator of the first burrata made in Nice. The creamy cheese is made in his workshop in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, using the traditional methods of his native Apulia region of Italy. The secret? The freshness of the products (a result of buying ingredients nearby), such as the organic milk from the countryside of Piedmont. With no preservatives or additives, Fabio’s burrata has won over the region’s starred chefs and was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix Slow Food. — 231-233, chemin des Iscles, Saint-Laurent-du-Var, website
16. Ferme de la Sauréa
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Admittedly, it is not the store next door, but for lovers of organic and quality meat, the Sauréa farm is worth a visit. The farm run by Lucie and Médéric Bailet in Tourrette-Levens offers chickens, lambs and goats reared in the open air just a stone’s throw from Nice. Respect for and the welfare of animals are a priority. No drug treatment is used. To stimulate their immune defenses, the animals receive infusions of thyme and garlic. Orders should be made online, to be picked up every two weeks or so at farm’s kitchen. Olive oil, olives, and tapenade as well as animal products and byproducts are available for purchase. — 811, avenue du Haut-Pays, Tourrette-Levens, website
17. The Fit Kitchen
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Yohan Boglio is making the claim: to be healthy and balanced, the cuisine does not need to be organic or vegan. In his fast-food restaurant, which focuses on “healthy” food, with an industrial decor, the young restaurateur offers dishes for everyone, simple, complete and rich in nutritious ingredients. A selection of bowls or salads are available in a fridge, otherwise you can get a hot dish. Everything here is ultra-fresh and high quality, such as the fruit juices pressed with an extractor. In the desserts, sugar is replaced by honey or agave syrup. A good spot for a healthy breakfast at a low price. — 26, rue Pastorelli, website
18. Domaine Lessatini
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On the high points of La Trinité, Jean-Yves and Laurence Lessatini produce an exceptional olive oil, made from century-old olive trees. To preserve their nutritional values, the olives — three varieties in all — are picked and processed on the same day at the estate. From La Chèvre d’Or, to Eze, to La Tour d’Argent, to Paris, the greatest chefs are captivated by this golden “jus de fruit” with powerful aromas. The other stars of the estate: olive jam and black olive paste, which won a gold medal in 2019 at the Concours général agricole. — 77, vieux chemin de Laghet, La Trinité, website
19. Le Goût de Nice
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Launched two years ago by the city of Nice, this 150-square-meter boutique is an ode to the Côte d’Azur region. About thirty craftsmen and producers from Nice and about 250 excellent products are represented there. Among the new products, we can enjoy a blackcurrant syrup from Bollène, honey from Isola 2000, soups from Utelle, wines from Saint-Jeannet… Options even come in sizes that are permittable on airplanes. — 4, boulevard Jean-Jaurès, website
20. Pota’Jus
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This fruit and vegetable juice factory is the new must-see place to recharge your batteries. Mélanie prepares her fresh, organic drinks with cold-pressed ingredients to preserve their health benefits. Immunizing, detoxifying, mood-boosting… several mixtures (9.50€) exist, developed with the advice of a nutritionist. To be enjoyed as a cure for one to three days, or simply to quench your thirst. — 3, rue du Lycée, website
21. Jean-Pierre Tarpi
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He switched to organic farming in 1990, long before it became trendy. Jean-Pierre Tarpi cultivates his vegetables and fruits with the greatest care at his small farm on the hill of Bellet. The market gardener then sells his beets, leeks, cauliflowers, chard and other winter vegetables on the marché de la Libération. To find him, visit stand n°12. — Marché de la Libération, Stand n°12 (au niveau de la rue Veillon)
22. Keisuke Matsushima
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Good for the body and soothing for the mind: Keisuke Matsushima’s Umami menu is a real rediscovery of Mediterranean cuisine. Umami? It is the 5th flavor, literally “delicious taste” in Japanese, and the new specialty of the gourmet chef. In practical terms, it is a balanced combination of ingredients rich in three types of amino acids, including the natural glutamate found in some plants. This combination acts as a natural flavor enhancer and largely eliminates salt, sugar and even fat from dishes. An example? Roasted suckling lamb with ratatouille niçoise, caillette d’épaule with cumin and curry, jus d’agneau with basil, or a niçoise salad. — 22 ter, rue de France, website
23. Clay
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Tiffany and Tom made it clear from the beginning: they wanted to combine healthy food with gourmet cuisine for everyone. Opened in spring on the edge of Place Garibaldi, their cozy canteen has already won over its public. In a laid-back atmosphere, you can relax for a healthy lunch or brunch. On the menu: a hearty sweet potato toast, a Blue bowl made from fruit, almond milk, dates and spirulina, a Croq Clay with raw ham… all served with a good fresh-squeezed fruit juice. The ingredients come mainly from the town’s marché de la Libération. For dessert, go for the soft French toast (pain perdu), a real family recipe with excellent flavors. — 3, rue Bonaparte, website
24. La Belle Saison
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This culinary gem opened its doors in 2018, a stone’s throw from Place Rossetti. The welcome is warm and relaxed, as is Laure, who runs the place. The young chef promotes a creative vegetarian cuisine based on traditional French cuisine. The menu is short, the ingredients are organic, local and seasonal, simply processed and with flavors preserved. Whether you choose a celery soup with apples or lasagna with butternut squash, ricotta cheese and sage, the dishes will delight your taste buds while doing good for your body. On Saturday, they serve brunch, which is a good opportunity to taste Laure’s desserts, a pastry chef by training. — 17, rue Benoît Bunico, website
25. Ma Yucca
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In his restaurant, Yuka Ueda dares to combine Japanese cuisine with Mediterranean cuisine. The result is worth the hype. The chef, who worked at the doubly-starred restaurant l’Oasis in Mandelieu, imagines a healthy and refined cuisine. Whether you choose fried salmon with soy sauce and market vegetables, a beef tartare, or sushi à la niçoise, the dishes delight your taste buds without ever weighing your stomach down. A memorable culinary journey. — 26, rue de la Buffa, website
This article was first published on Le Point.
