Restaurant Le Mas Provençal in Èze village
Living locally, we’d often pass this pretty looking restaurant, there as you leave Eze on the Moyenne Corniche in the direction of Monaco. From the outside, it looks like a pretty, traditional eatery, with flowers and plants in pots making a welcoming frontage. But nothing can prepare you for the most remarkable dining room I’ve ever been in.
Any reference to ‘tourists’ when you describe a restaurant can, slightly bizarrely, discredit the establishment, implying even subconsciously poor value for money or poor food – the assumption apparently being that tourists have no taste or judgement. While of course this can often be true, in my personal experience, it’s the locals that can sometimes be blind to a fantastic restaurant right in their back yard, just because they deem it too popular with tourists. In fact, in today’s world of social media and rating sites, tourists are often pretty well informed, and more willing to try new places with an open mind than the locals are. Never was this more true than with the Restaurant Le Mas Provençal (visit their website here).
“The dining room resembles a fairy’s grotto…”
For the uninitiated, the reaction seems to be pretty much the same – as you’ll observe once you’re seated – one of complete astonishment. The dining room resembles a fairy’s flower grotto, with a huge ficus tree, its bark covered completely in moss, stretching up to the sky-lit ceiling, forming a dark green canopy over the whole room. From these boughs are suspended huge blooms of cut flowers, bunches of ripe grapes and vines of cherry tomatoes, with strings of cut glass diamond shaped decorations, interspersed with strings of fairy lights, refracting dappled light across the room. A huge chandelier sits over one of the tables, decorated with beautiful glass decorations, and dozens of long-stemmed lilies, hydrangeas and other cut flowers. In every nook and cranny there is a water feature, with antique basins or bird tables creating little fountains and pools of cool, trickling water. Antique lamps and whimsical pieces of furniture hide behind the greenery, making the whole effect almost too much for your eyes to take in.
It is said that the octogenarian owner spends up to four hours a day replacing any fading blooms, replenishing the décor, and perfecting the displays, making almost daily visits to the flower market in Nice – and you would certainly believe it.
Once seated, you’ll immediately see that the eccentricity doesn’t end at the decor, as diners are greeted with a five tiered food rack – the sort usually used for cream teas – with muscles, anchovies, gherkins, mini pickled onions an other nibbles, accompanied by a basket of crudités. There’s no individual menu, and no a la carte. Instead, diners are offered a fixed price menu with three choices per course, presented on little chalk boards dotted here and there. Starters such as mushroom risotto or cold meats are followed by main choices of suckling pig, or sole meunier and leg of veal or free range chicken supreme, both served in rich sauce and accompanied by mashed potato. The desert choice is more traditional, with standards such as tiramisu and sorbet – and you can always play safe with the ‘selection of desserts’ option.
“If there’s a prettier dining room in the area, we’d like to know…”
Given the almost overpowering impact of the dining room, you’d almost expect the quality of the food to be given second billing, but that’s really not the case. And while you would hardly call the menu prices cheap, you can’t help but marvel at the probable cost of the décor, the time taken to create this flower-paradise or the passion that must be involved – and this has to be paid for. The only surprise is the wine menu, which has limited choice, and offers the lowest price bottle – a not undrinkable Pouilly Fuisse – at €76, with the next cheapest at €95. The only other niggle was the coup de champagne offered upon arrival (and of which one never asks the price) which turned out to be a little steep at €25 each.
The service is very good, the staff are friendly, and obviously proud of their exceptional restaurant, the atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, with the other diners evidently enjoying their experience. Its clear that most of the clientele are not French, and obviously, with the world now as it is, the décor will be sure to attract those searching for social media treats – but that doesn’t seem to degrade the feeling you get when you dine here. In fact, we’ve seen more than a few times that ‘tourists’ often get in the party mood – they’re on holiday after all – where locals will be more reserved.
So, whether you’re a local, or a tourist, if you fancy a romantic interlude or a party night – the Le Mas Provençal restaurant should definitely be on your bucket list. And if you find a prettier dining room in the region, we’d like to know!