Le Petit Nice, Marseille

Le Petit Nice, Marseille (220 €, 9/20/2019, 5-Course incl. VAT and Gratuity)

Le Petit Nice is the only Michelin three starred restaurant in the vicinity of Marseille, southern France. The restaurant and its parking lot is in a gated area in front of a rocky Mediterranean Sea view. While you are dining in its magnificent setting, you could hear the enchanting sound of waves and captivating ocean sight.

It has a la carte menu and a few different sets of Tasting menus with different number of courses – Discover the Sea Menu, Passedat Menu, Evolution Manu, 100 Anniversary Menu and My Bouillabaisse (by reservation only). I chose the 5-Course Evolution Menu kicked off with Amuse Bouche.

Gérald Passédat is a French chef, owner of the restaurant Le Petit Nice in Marseille. He has three stars at the Guide Michelin since 2008.

Amuse Bouche

1. Watermelon Confit with Ratafia

Around the Mediterranean, in southern France, Spain and Italy, "ratafia" is an alcoholic, aromatic cordial made from a wide range of ingredients including fruits (lemon, lime, peach, cherry) herbs (rosemary, mint, anise), spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove) and nuts (bitter almonds). This form of ratafia is sweetened with sugar, hence its definition as a liqueur.

Water melon icicle was made by sub zeroing water melon juice, some red fruits and infused with Ratafia, red wine and rum. The lovely water melon icicle was adorned with micro flowers and micro herbs. It is a palette opener, delicious and refreshing. It was also visually inspiring.

2. Home Made Grissini

Home-made breadsticks were made of butter and dipped in paste made with herbs, barora thyme from Corsica, fennel salt and pollen. They were quite tasty and appetizing.

3. Crustacean Soup 

Crustacean consommé, infused with mauve (purple) flowers, was brought to the table. Our server also presented a box of tea bags with four different types of herbs – thyme, bay leaves, rosemary and sage. Each guest was asked to choose his/her choice of herbs to infuse more flavor in consommé. I chose thyme. I drank it after 3 minutes of infusion, it was full of fragrance, with rich seafood flavor.

4. Abbey of St. Victor

The Abbey of Saint-Victor was a former abbey that was founded during the late Roman period in Marseille in the south of France, named after the local soldier saint and martyr, Victor of Marseilles. This dish had the inspiration from St. Victor and was presented as the representation of the stainless glasses at Abbey of St. Victor.

Raw Comber fish carpaccio and a variety of organic vegetable – beet, carrot, cucumber, sea lettuce and artichoke heart were on a bed of artichoke purée. They were artistically displayed in fish stock jelly. It was light and flavorful. This dish reminded me of a similar one that I recently had in Geranium, Copenhagen.

Bread and Olive Oil

There were three types of bread – whole wheat bread, seaweed bread and focaccia. Focaccia was served from a trolley and the server tediously sliced the loaf and placed each type of herb on each slice to get the even distribution. It was excellent, crunchy at the top and bottom and soft in the center, and absolutely delightful.

Since Le Petit Nice is in southern France, its cooking style uses more olive oil than butter. Two types of olive oil were served – one from Provence and one from Tuscan. Chef Passedat usually uses local ingredients. There is very good olive oil in Provence, but the very best come from Italy especially from Tuscan. Selection of a remarkable Tuscan (non-local) olive oil demonstrated the detail and high standard that Chef Passedat gave to his operation.

Main Course

1. The Octopus Needle Lace Julie J’Adore!

This dish contained one unusual ingredient – the world’s best peppercorn. The volcanic soil of the Penja valley in the West African nation of Cameroon produces the world’s most coveted pepper, prized by Michelin-starred chefs. It is sometimes called Panga pepper.

Slow cooked octopus was served on a bed of mashed grilled aubergine (eggplant) infused with mint. Octopus was sliced and grilled with broth of fish bone and pecorino sheep cheese. Grilled sliced octopus were arranged in two circles and garnished with condensed fish broth along the plate and dark-colored pieces on top (look like lace). It was accompanied by fish broth in the bowl. Octopus was tender and tasty complemented with Penja pepper’s delicate musky flavor.

2. Southern Fish in Nordic Caravan

This dish had two key ingredients - crispy fish belly of seabass and poutargue (Mediterranean caviar). Poutargue in Arabic butharkha which means “compressed, salted and dried fish roe”. It is a culinary specialty of several Mediterranean countries. The Japanese are very fond of it and know it as karasumi. Our server even brought over a piece of poutargue for demo and informed us this piece of poutargue came from Marligue about 40 km from Marseille. The sliced poutargue tasted a bit like de-hydrated smoked salmon with a more pungent flavor. Fish belly, rich in collagen, has been a traditional Chinese delicacy, it tasted a bit like conch. Crystal caviar garnished the plate along with sauce made from cauliflower and smoked fish soup. It was a rare combination of ingredients and a very delightful taste and savor. 

3. Veil of Fish and Cuttlefish Reduction

Seabass was seared perfectly, with crispy skin, served with a usual ingredient – sparassis mushroom.

Sparassis, cauliflower mushroom, usually grows on a tree in forest. It is the Queen of the forest, devilishly hard to find. Its appearance can be described as similar to a sea sponge, a brain, or a head of cauliflower, from which it has been given its popular name. Our server brought over a basket of sparassis mushroom to show us.

Sauce was made with cuttlefish extraction, kimchi, squid sauce and sparassis mushroom. The freshwater Drum fish can be good to eat if prepared properly. Don't expect a light, flaky texture, though— Drum has a firm, meaty texture. Seabass was garnished with sea cucumber and a thin fried fish fillet of Drum fish. Sea cucumber has been a Chinese delicacy. According Chines herbal medicine, it strengthens your health. It tasted almost like conch, except less chewy than conch. I enjoyed my experience of fresh sea cucumber in the Barcelona region. Chefs has made great effort on using the best ingredients preparing this dish.

4. My Sea Garden

There were five components in this course:

1).Various sea plants with various types of fish – red mullet, cuttlefish, anchovy, sardine, mussel, clams, and red and white quinoa were elegantly displayed. Red mullet was perfectly broiled to retain its quasi-lobster taste, mussel was fat and juicy. Each of other type of fish has different texture and flavor. The dish was served with fish stock foam and sauce made of Criste Marine (Sea Fennel) and fish broth.  

2).Chefs has not forgotten the popular Mediterranean style fried anchovy.

3).Raw oyster from Toulon. There are two types of oysters live naturally in the roadstead of Toulon, both famous for their quality and taste. Chef has served Ostrea Plicatula which lives isolated or in groups attached to the rocks. The shell is small, rough and irregular. Its interior is pearly, slightly greenish tint. This oyster is of exceptionally fine flavor and is much sought for.

4).A bowl of fish consommé made of fish stock and plankton leave and dotted with olive oil surrounded by rock spires.

5). In addition, there was a box of shellfish to enhance the visual immersion.

Chef has made various ways of presenting this course to titillate the taste buds as much as please the eyes.

5. My Bouillabaisse

Because of the errors in our reservation, we were offered the complementary course of “My Bouillabaisse – soup only”.

The soup was thicker than consommé, but thinner than bisque. What made it outstanding was the flavor and taste. The key to the quality is the fact that the first group of fish is cooked separately just for the broth. The broth was so intensely flavored. This way it became possible to serve the 2^nd group of fish at the precise texture and temperature.

A lovely potato beignet and Rouille (tomato and red pepper purée) were served. Our server suggested to mix the Rouille in the soup and dip the beignet into the soup.

This was an authentic Bouillabaisse.

6.Pre-Dessert

It was grated frozen white grape juice made with an extraordinary combination. There were three key components – the first batch of new grapes’ juice in July (too acidic to make wine), a mixture of 1-liter water + 450 gram of sugar and some Cognac from Bourgoin Cognac (A handcrafted Cognac winemaker in Tarsac, France). The mixture was frozen, at subzero, into ice block. It was grated like cheese before serving on an ice block. It was amazingly tasty and refreshing.

7. Dessert

1).Orange Blossom Ice Cream with Maribelle Compote

Maribelle plums were the fruit of the season, are a small, sweet type of fruit most commonly grown in the Lorraine region of France. These high sugar plums are known for their use in various jams, jellies, baked products and fruit brandy (known as eau de vie). It looked almost like apricot and had a taste of apricot, peach, plum. I truly appreciated the orange blossom ice cream which is a rare item on the menu. It balanced well with Maribelle Compote.

2).Almond Paste Custard and Pistachio Custard

There were two parts in this plate:

Almond praline paste was wrapped under the thin crepe and covered with lemon cream, garnished with roasted chopped almond and pistachio purée.

Pistachio cream covering almond praline paste, on the same plate, was adorned with roasted pistachio nuts, roasted pistachio nut powder and meringue twigs.

I preferred Orange Blossom Ice Cream; it was more flavorful and balanced. We were also offered some raw honey from the Pyrenees. It was fragrant and pleasing.

8. Midnardises

There were varieties of petit fours:

Avocado and White Chocolate Purée with Strawberry Sauce

Banana with Eggplant Purée

Cereal, Dates and Pistachio

Green Apple with Coriander Drink

Roudoudou – is a confectionery made of scented cooked sugar, poured into a small shell. It was made of jelly, strawberry and vinegar

Turkish Delight

Vanilla Marshmallow

Chef Passedat, practiced the same concept like what Chef Pierre Gagnaire did, used the multiple top-quality ingredients and components simultaneously geared to maximize color, fragrance and esthetic pleasure. The application of sophisticated and novel techniques has not formed the unified harmonious combinations in desserts as much as in savory dishes? Still, the total experience of listening to the enchanting ocean wave, watching the mesmerizing Mediterranean night view and enjoying fresh and flavorful seafood was without of doubt truly memorable.