Reviewer: Foodnut.com La Réserve de Nice 60 Bldv Franck Pilatte Nice, France, 06300, CA +33 04 97 08 14 80 +04 93 14 68 73 (Fax) |
La Réserve de Nice is situated on huge rock overlooking the harbor entrance to Nice, France. It has beautiful panoramic views of the water. It earned one Michelin star in 2009. Their menu changes daily with best values in their prix fix menus. We order one of each prix fix menu plus a Bouillabaisse. They have an upstairs dining room that was closed.
Dining Room
Decor, Vibe – Awesome location by the water. The view of boats, swimmers, animals was inspiring. Modern elegant decor, outside deck for warmer months. Well dressed folks in their 30’s to 60’s were dining. Couple tourist tables.
Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)
Amuse Bouche of a fried fish croquette.
Their pain – bread was excellent.
Picks:
Amuse Bouche 2: Foie Gras with cherries – Wow, what a complimentary starter. A nicely sized, perfectly sauteed foie with tart cherries.
Amuse Bouche 2: Some sort of Creamed egg with shaved cheese. Very smooth and silky, but extremely rich.
Haricot verts en salad – Green bean salad on a bed of peas, truffle tapenade, shallot vinaigrette looked amazing, nothing like what we expected. A crispy filo pastry was on top of the greens. We are truffle fans and loved the bits of truffle on the green beans, and the truffle essence in the tapenade.
Tartare de tomates – Roma Tomato Tartare with cold tomato soup, whipped cream, and chorizo. Another stunning dish. The ice cream like mound was creamy tomato flavored, making this almost a tomato three ways dish. Another great example of Provencal cooking’s use of vegetables.
Pot holding Bouillabaisse
La Bouillabaisse de la Reserve (€39) – Bouillabaisse is a regional specialty of this area, so we had to try it. Beautiful dish with excellent seafood broth, fresh fish, mussels, fennel, calamari, prawns, and more. The dish even comes with a big blue Staub pot with more. It costs as much as one of the 3 course meals, but the money is well spent.
Retour de peche taillee en pave – This fish was awesome, with a nutty crust, a lite sauce, and perfect cooking. Nice clams, artichokes, and other vegetables to accent it.
Filet de cannette – Another beautiful dish. Young duck fillet with a nice rhubarb sauce. The piece of duck was tiny, but hit the spot with is flavor. Very creative shredded green salad arrangement.
Bavaroise fraiser – Bavarian Strawberry. A heavy layered cheese cake like dessert with a smooth ice cream covered with a little olive oil. The top mousse is made of a fruit like a haw fruit and had a sprinkling of basil. Lots of different flavors in this complicated dessert.
OK:
Fresh Berries were a pretty standard fruit dessert.
Pans:
None
La Réserve de Nice has a stellar view but also had some excellent food, a rare combination. Service was very good, friendly, but relaxed for a long meal. We have no problem recommending this place for a memorable dinner. On a budget? Come for the reasonable three course lunch (30€) to save a bunch.
Love this place? Chauteau Eza in nearby Eze Le Village has a view that surpasses this one and good food also. They have several waiters with reasonable English understanding.
Restaurant Map:
1 Comment
Keith Gormezano
July 3, 2011 at 11:52 amUnfortunately, I don’t agree with this review of La Reserve restaurant of Nice, France. I found them rude and inconsiderate to the residential neighborhood by playing loud music on their terrace/roof below us.
While my parents who live next door and can see the new terrace restaurant have told me that the food is pretty good and Joseph is attentive to his customers, La Reserve restaurant blew their chances to make things right with me and the neighborhood by blasting loud music at Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 8:30 PM (after telling us that the party in question would end at 8 PM). We had asked them to turn it down as I was recovering from Pneumonia.
The pounding music was so loud that I could hear it without my hearing aids.