Where to start
If you are a serious food shopper, you should start at the Cours Saleya open air market in Old Nice. It is a large market with the stalls running in the center of the old square and sidewalk cafes and bars along the side. Your senses are assailed by the color and aromas of the freshest fruits and vegetables.
But don’t stop there; Nice food stores are a revelation. Grocery shopping will never have the same appeal again.
Olive oil
Nice and its surrounding region produce some wonderful products and olive oil is one of the most important. Not surprisingly, there are numerous specialty shops to tempt you with their precious golden oils and glorious olive oil soaps.
Take a tour of olive oil shops and you will soon discover the subtle differences between different oils, vintages and producers. As the oils are sold in beautiful bottles that make excellent gifts and in liter cans for the true devotee, they are likely to come out poorer.
Oliviera
There are two parts to Oliviera. Start at the store where you can try a variety of small producer olive oils before deciding which one to buy. The range is wide and the staff very helpful. There is also a restaurant where you can get starters such as aubergines, mozzarella cheese or vegetable flowers and main dishes ranging from mushroom cannelloni to rabbit pasta or with pesto sauce. And of course, each dish comes with a different olive oil, which you can buy at the store.
Direction
8 bis rue du Collet, Old Town
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 13 06 45
Website
Alziari
Alziari is a well-established olive oil specialist, with two stores in Nice, and the range in both is mind-boggling. Everything from grands crus to denomination controlled oils are here for the tasting. Their pretty olive oil-based soaps are also worth looking at. Visit their other shop with the oldest remaining working mill in Nice to see the production and have a tutored tasting. There is also the excellent La Table Alziari, where you can try Nicois-style cod (cod with potatoes, olives and tomato sauce) or perhaps the sweet local lamb.
Direction
14 rue St-Francois-de-Paul, Old Town
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 85 76 92
And at: 3128 Boulevard de la Madeleine, La Madeleine
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 44 45 12
Website
Preserves, chocolates and all things sweet.
The confectionery (confectionery) is also an important part of Mediterranean life, and the shops display a surprising number of tantalizing varieties, from canned fruits to candied almonds.
Confiserie Auer
This is a true treasure of a store with great chocolates and those wonderful canned fruits where you break the crunchy sugar into a smooth tasting of pear, apricot, or black currant. The Auer family has been making chocolates (sweets) since the 1820s and you will find it difficult to part with the pretty shop.
Direction
7 rue St Francois de Paul, Old Town
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 85 77 89
Website
Florian
More sugary flowers and fruits, sweet syrups, caramelized almonds, candied clementines, chocolates and other delicacies are for sale at Florian. It’s like Willy Wonka’s factory. Taste the products first, then spend a small fortune on the delicacies. Florian has two shops, one in Nice and the second in Pont-de-Loup, about 10 kilometers from Grasse, where you can see the products being made (and participate in a DIY workshop).
Direction
10 quai Papacino, Old Town
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 55 43 50
También in
The Wolf Bridge
06140 Tourrettes-sur-Loup
Phone: 00 33 (0) 4 93 59 32 91
Website for both directions
ALC pastry shop
There are 3 ALC stores in Nice and you can see why when you venture into them. Specialty cake and chocolate shops are the place to eat delicate cakes, while the chocolate shop offers a multitude of delicacies in different tastes (even sugar-free for the body conscious); Macaroons in those impossibly wild colors, pralines, powdered hot chocolate and more, all beautifully boxed, fill in the gaps.
Addresses
Chocolate Artisan
49 Rue Gioffredo
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 82 57 78
Cake shop
18 Rue Barla
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 55 37 74
Cake shop
113 Route de Laghet (slightly outside the city)
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 85 10 60
Website for all directions
Gourmet Art
This is a famous place for ice cream. But there’s more than just frozen treats here – try the nougat, fruit jellies, calissons (candied fruits and ground almonds), cakes, well, you get the idea. There is also a charming tea room on the first floor with genuine English tea served in a frame of murals on the walls and a traditional atmosphere.
Address: 21 rue du Marche, Old Town
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 4 93 62 51 79
Facebook page
Buy the ingredients and then learn how to cook what you have bought
Canadian-born Rosa Jackson leads a great cooking class in Nice’s old town. You meet in a cafeteria for a coffee and a croissant, then you accompany her through the market stalls, you browse and buy products, and you learn what to look for at the same time.
Then you return to her apartment with her professional kitchen, learn to cook what you’ve bought (and what Rosa has in advance), then sit down to a nice meal with your fellow chefs.
- Clases of cocina from Les Petits Farcis
Nice is a food lover’s dream city
- Read more about Nice for Foodies
- Top Bistros in Nice
- Good Cheap Restaurants in Nice
- Other markets to explore in Nice
Check out this 3-day tour of Nice, which includes the Cours Saleya market
More about the markets in the south of France