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Come and taste Marseille's specialities

A Food tour in Marseille

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As a great lover of restaurants and good food, today I’m embarking on a food tour of the streets of Marseille. I’d like to let you in on the gustatory secrets of our beautiful Phocaean city…

Published on 6 April 2023
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Philipine Ladouce
  • Marseille in 3 words

    Diverse, relaxed, loving.

  • My favourite neighbourhood

    The Cours Julien, a unique and artistic mix.

First culinary stage: a tasting basket

It’s 11.30am and we’re meeting our guide Ben in front of Marseille City Hall. Once everyone is assembled, our first stop is at a well-known restaurant in the Panier district, Bobolivo.

We begin our gourmet escape with a quintessentially French concoction: camembert roasted in pastis (the emblematic drink of Marseille and the South of France). We are welcomed into the restaurant where a table has been reserved for us. Around this table we chat with Ben, who explains the history of the Panier district (Marseille’s first historic district).

A mix of flavours and anecdotes, bringing together Marseille and French culture in a single bite. For me, this roast camembert will remain engraved on my taste buds.

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      Stop-off at a place steeped in history: a Provençal restaurant in the 1st arrondissement

      After this hearty tasting, for the second leg of our culinary journey we walked for about ten minutes and arrived at our new destination in front of a typical Marseillais restaurant, ‘La brasserie des Templiers’. In fact, it’s the first and oldest in the district. Located next to the Eglise Saint Féréol, in the Vieux-Port district.

      This restaurant, steeped in history, welcomes us with old anecdotes about the surrounding area that plunge us back into Marseille’s bygone days. And you can feel it on your plate: a Provençal bull stew simmered for hours in red wine, resulting in tender, flaky meat to be enjoyed with bread. An explosion of Provençal flavours that’s well worth a stop at the restaurant. All of this, of course, accompanied by a glass of wine of your choice – let’s not forget our traditions!

      The restaurant is welcoming, and you’ll feel right at home here, with a great family atmosphere guaranteed.

      Marseille’s tapas on the south side of the Vieux-Port

      We then head to the other side of the Vieux-Port district, to ‘Les Arcenaulx‘ on Cours d’Estienne d’Orves, once a large canal that was home to boats. This multi-faceted place represents an image of a forgotten era in Marseille. It’s a bookshop, souvenir shop and restaurant all in one.

      We were lucky enough to be able to sample the specialities of Marseille around a table in the form of tapas to share. Surrounded by bottles of Pastis and rosés from Provence. Ben advises us on the local specialities:

      Cuttlefish, tapenade, panisses and other Marseilles favourites were on the menu.

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          A sweet break for the last stop

          After our tapas stop, we made a stop at the biscuit shop ‘La Cure Gourmande‘ on Marseille’s legendary thoroughfare, ‘La Canebière‘, where we were offered a chance to sample some of Marseille’s sweet and shortbread specialities. The shop plunges us into the heart of the Provençal countryside.

          It’s now 2.30pm, three hours after the start of our activity, and we end our tour with a gourmet touch in the cosmopolitan district of Noailles. A tasting session in an oriental patisserie where snacks overflow on all sides. We sample these famous pastries made mainly of honey, almonds, walnuts, dates and sesame seeds. The tour ends on a sweet note.

          This was the last stop on our food tour, and it was with a full belly that we ended our gourmet tour. We were able to discover Marseille not only through its gourmet flavours, but also through different districts with a rich history. What I’ll take away from this experience is a wonderful discovery and an interesting culinary diversity brought together in a single city: Marseille!

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