The 10 best restaurants in Marseille
Being a port city, it makes sense that Marseille’s signature dish is the overwhelming bouillabaisse fish stew. It should be tackled at least once – as long as you like fish. Avoid cheap versions: anything under €45 (£38) counts as cheap. Other local dishes are of a similarly sustaining nature: daube, a beef stew in wine; and le grand aioli, which is warm cod flanked by a full floor show of vegetables, shellfish and, of course, garlic mayonnaise. It requires a cooled bottle of Provençal rosé – or Cassis white – to do it full justice. As France’s oldest city, Marseille also enjoys plenty of foreign influence. Look out for fine food from the Mahgreb, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and, naturally, from Italy just along the coast.
For further Marseille inspiration, see our guide to the city and its best hotels, nightlife and things to do.
Le Petit Nice
Undoubtedly the finest, most inventive table in Marseille, whence its three Michelin stars and throat-grabbing prices. The restaurant is on the ground level of Le Petit Nice hotel, looking directly onto the briny – a serene setting for Gérald Passédat’s imagination and technical mastery. The French chef uses fish no one has heard of, in dishes no one else would have conceived at prices only a few can afford. Lunch menu is €195 (£165), cheapest dinner menu €310 (£262). Meanwhile, the on-site bistro, Le 1917, has a slightly more affordable take on fine cuisine.
Contact: passedat.fr
Reservations: Essential
Prices: £££
Chez Michel
Most people travelling to Marseille will, at some point, be seeking bouillabaisse, the city’s emblematic, full-frontal fish dish. It comes in two servings: the stock first as soup, then a scrum of solid fish follows. Among the very best is Chez Michel near the Catalan beach. The decor hasn’t much changed since it opened in 1946, concentrating instead on the cooking and the white-jacketed serving ceremonial. Just as well, when they want £67 a throw. Pricey, obviously, but the Visciano family have been running things for three generations. They’re largely on top of what is a difficult job.
Contact: restaurant-michel-13.fr
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
L’Epuisette
Apparently growing out of the rocks of the little in-town fishing village of Vallon des Auffes), L’Epuisette opens spectacularly to the sea – and its kitchen deals pretty spectacularly with everything that swims in it. Guillaume Sourrieu’s place has been a Michelin-starred point of reference in Marseille for years. It remains terrific. The six-course menu rings in at £82. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Contact: l-epuisette.com
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
AM par Alexandre Mazzia
Not far from the Vélodrome soccer stadium, AM is the new and brightest star in the Marseilles gastronomic firmament. For a someone with three Michelin stars, Mazzia comes across as disarmingly modest – though, as you’d expect, his pricing is anything but. Having spent part of his youth in the Congo, Mazzia infuses his cooking with colour, spices and invention, but you’ll need to be loaded to appreciate it. Cheapest lunch menu is £165, cheapest dinner menu £249. If you have that kind of money to spare, I’d not hesitate.
Contact: alexandre-mazzia.com
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
Chez Fonfon
Fonfon is a landmark spot – slotted into the Vallon des Auffes, an unlikely little fishing port in the heart of the city – and does bouillabaisse as it’s meant to be done. It’s not cheap (€65/£55), but you get the full monty: stock served first as soup, then the five-fish stew with all the palaver. The family-run restaurant, opened in 1952, has also had time to perfect other fish dishes and southern specialities.
Contact: chez-fonfon.com
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
Le Relais 50
The restaurant associated with the Hotel La Résidence du Vieux Port starts with the advantage of the finest of settings – right by the Vieux Port, with a terrace which is more or less in the water. It builds on this with a vaguely retro décor and inventive Med cooking. If you are going to lunch or dine around the old port – an you really should; it’s the city’s beating heart – then the Relais 50 must be a most serious contender for your custom. The value-for-money helps make it a stand-out.
Contact: hotel-residence-marseille.com
Prices: ££
Reservations: Essential
Le Peron
A Marseille classic, perched on rocks directly over the sea on the corniche. The food is expensive but brilliantly worked, notably in the fish department, and it comes with a sense of privilege. By day, the outdoor wooden terrace has maybe the most unfettered sea views in Marseille. By night, the light extends just beyond the windows; there are pinpricks from boats and islands a little further out, rendering the night both infinite and intimate.
Contact: restaurant-peron.com
Prices: £££
Reservation: Essential
Chez Madie Les Galinettes
This friendly, bustling establishment on the Vieux Port is a point of reference for Provençal specialities – both fish and meat (including a rare chance in France to eat lambs' testicles). There’s contemporary art on the walls, a terrace out front and the best of Marseille on your plate. The daube beef in wine may be the finest in town, and the bouillabaisse isn't at all bad, either.
Contact: madielesgalinettes.com
Prices: £
Reservations: Essential
Esplaï du Grand Bar des Goudes
From Marseille centre, take N° 20 bus out to Les Goudes, where the final straggle of the city cedes to arid rocks, deep creeks, a pint-sized fishing port and ramshackle cabins where real Marseillais have spent weekends drinking pastis and barbecueing fish for generations. Here you will find the almost excessively convivial Esplaï du Grand Bar des Goudes where the sea food is good, the bouillabaisse and bourride first class (and cheaper than in the posher establishments back in the centre), the views directly over port and sea eye-smacking, and the atmosphere perfectly Marseillais at its picaresque best.
Contact: grandbardesgoudes.fr
Prices: ££
Reservation: Essential
Signature
Coline Faulquier is the young leader of a youthful team which has already bagged one Michelin star for this spot a street or two behind the soccer stadium. Hers is a contemporary take on Mediterranean cuisine with, as you’d expect in Marseille, the emphasis on fish. Her aioli – crunchy veg with hake and monkfish and the required sauces – is already renowned. Lunch menus start at £41, dinner at £106.
Contact: signaturemarseille.com
Prices: £££
Reservation: Essential
How we choose
Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from neighbourhood favourites to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every type of traveller’s taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations.
