The Western Côte D’azur: The Mauresque Coast:

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St. Tropez has the most adventurous and expensive food; the freshest seafood can be found in Le Lavandou – which still has a small, active fishing fleet. And, if you get hungry for a Big Mac or Ben&Jerry’s, you can find them in St.Tropez. Several of the restaurants mentioned in this chapter offer serious cuisine. Check A Day at the Beach for more bistros and restaurants on the water. One way or another, you won’t go hungry on this coast.

Leï Mouscardins (Tour du Portalet, BP 52, 83991 St Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 29 00, fax 33 04 94 97 76 39, info@leimouscardins. com, www.leimouscardins.com, €€€€+) comes garlanded with kudos from every quarter and is probably the most highly rated restaurant in St. Tropez. Breton chef, Laurent Tarridec prepares sophisticated Provençal cuisine with an outsider’s iconoclasm. But the cuisine – sautéed monkfish, calamari with fennel, anchovy rissoles with celeriac and leaves, melon with spiced syrup, acacia and rosemary honey, pistachio oil and sorbet – is only part of the draw. The setting, opposite the 15th-century Tour du Portalet, straddling the end of the port and the opening of La Glaye, offers a 180-degree view of the sea and La Ponche. Book early.

DINING PRICE CHART
Prices are for a typical prix fixe menu of two courses and a glass of house wine for one.
	€14-€19
€	€21-€34
€€	€35-€49
€€€	€50-€69
€€€€	€70-€140
€€€€€	The sky’s the limit

Spoon is a branch of star chef Alain Ducasse’s high concept, multi-ethnic restaurant at Byblos (Avenue Foch, 83990 St Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 56 68 20, fax 33 04 94 56 68 01, spoonbyblos@byblos.com, www.byblos.com; evenings only, mid-April to mid-October, €€€€). The idea is that you taste the world’s cuisine – a spoonful of this, a spoonful of that – and create your own menu. The carte suggests various themes. Dining is indoors and outdoors.

Michelin gives two crossed forks to Le Girelier, named after the woven straw trap used to catch Girelle fish used in the restaurant’s Soupe de Poisson. (Quai Jean Jaurès, 83990 St. Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 03 87, fax 33 04 94 97 43 86, contact@legirelier.com, www.legirelier.com; lunch and dinner, mid-March to mid-October, €€€). Run by the same family since 1956, the restaurant serves seafood and grills, vegetable terrines, grand aioli, roasted crustaceans. The unassuming room, a typical seaside bistro, has art nouveau bentwood and wainscoting, blue striped wallpaper. The terrace overlooks the yacht haven. A thoughtful children’s menu is about half-price and planned for fussy young palates.

Grand Joseph manages to be both chic and relaxed (1 Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, 83990 St. Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 01 66, chezjoseph@wanadoo.fr, www.joseph-saint-tropez.com; lunch and dinner, €€-€€€). Popular with fashionistas and gay celebrities – Elton John, George Michael. The food is theatrical and adventurous: barigoule of violet artichokes with tomato and fresh coriander, pressed duck fois gras with pistachio and dried figs, rare tuna steak with balsamic vinegar and curry cole slaw, pistachio crème brulée. Food is served until midnight but the party goes on all night.

Once a restaurant starts offering T-shirts and logo teapots, it’s time to worry about the cuisine. But because of its prime location, opposite the best pétanque tournaments on the Place des Lices, Le Café can’t help being popular with visitors (Place des Lices, 83390 St. Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 44 69, fax 33 04 94 55 84 95, raymond@lecafe.fr, www.lecafe.fr/st-tropez, €€). The unadventurous menu emphasizes well-prepared classics – boeuf en daub, moules marinières, Provençal monkfish soup with aioli, at reasonable prices.

Le Bistrot du Phare (Chez Josie 1 Quai de l’Epi, 83990 St.Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 46 00, fax 33 04 94 97 55 67, sirene83@tiscali.fr, www.bistrotduphare.com, €-€€) serves up fisherman’s stew, plank grilled fish, pasta, mussels for lunch and dinner with a view of the lighthouse.

Fuel to keep the all-night party going can be found in two famous brasseries at the port. Le Gorille (1 Quai Suffren, 83990 St.Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 03 93, €) is open for drinking and light dining (poulet frites, croque monsieur) all year, round the clock. Not far away, Sénéquier (Quai Jean-Jaurès, 83990 St. Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 00 90, €) is a place to drink late or breakfast early in the company of an arty, outré fashion crowd.

If French food begins to pale – and it can – Banh-Hoi is the place to go for top Vietnamese and Thai food (12 Rue du Petit Saint Jean, 83990 St.Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 36 29, fax 33 04 98 12 91 47; dinner only, late March to early October, €€€).

Asiatic food is also the specialty of stylish Le Petit Joseph, run by the owners of Grand Joseph (6 Rue Sibile, 83990 St.Tropez, ☎ 33 04 94 97 03 90, fax 33 04 94 97 77 50, chezjoseph@wanadoo.fr, www.joseph-saint-tropez.com, €€€-€€€€). Cambodian and Vietnamese specialties at this smart, dinner-only restaurant.

Aux Fa.Da (Avenue Général Bouvet, Le Lavandou, ☎ 33 04 94 23 34 07, €-€€). Couscous, Provençal seafood and fruit de mer in a lively room, on the seafront in Le Lavandou, with a covered terrace and small open terrace.

It’s first-come, first-served at the popular La Louisiane (Boulevard Front de Mer, Le Lavandou, ☎/fax 33 04 94 71 24 59, lalouisiane@lelavandouresto.com, www.lelavandou-resto.com and www.lesbeauxpalmiers.com, €-€€). This huge place (the terrace seats 100) doesn’t take reservations but its octopus stew, bourride, aioli and choucroute de la mer are always in demand. Don’t plan on high season visits though – the casual restaurant accepts coach loads.

Chez Lulu (“Les Dauphins,” Avenue Vincent Auriol, Le Lavandou, ☎ 33 04 94 64 95 23; open mid-March to mid-October, €€-€€€) is a more intimate restaurant in which to sample regional food and the spicy, fish and tomato stew – bourride.

There’s music and regional aperitifs like vin d’orange with the Provençal seafood dishes – marmite du pêcheur, aioli – at La Favouille in Le Lavandou’s pedestrian area (9 Rue Abbé Hélin, Le Lavandou, ☎ 04 94 71 34 29, €€).

For fish, fruit de mer and crustaceans straight out of the sea, try the restaurants of Le Lavandou Port, where the local fishermen land their catches: Le Bosco (20 Quai des Pêcheurs, ☎ 33 04 94 71 09 88, fax 33 04 94 15 27 61, €€-€€€), L’Algue Bleue (Auberge de la Calanque, 62, Avenue du Général de Gaulle, ☎ 33 04 94 71 05 96, fax 33 04 94 71 20 12, lacalanque@wanadoo.fr, €€-€€€).

At Les Santons (RD558, Grimaud, ☎ 33 04 94 43 21 02, fax 33 04 94 43 24 92, lessantons@wanadoo.fr, €€€-€€€€) antiques, copper, flowers and santons establish a traditional atmosphere for a cuisine gastronomique menu that includes local truffles, lamb from the Sisteron and the best of the day’s catch. Lunch, with wine included for €34, is a good value.

Auberge la Cousteline (Quartier des Couzes, CD 14, Grimaud, ☎ 33 04 94 43 29 47, €€-€€) serves rustic cooking in an isolated farmhouse in the woods. The terrace is lovely as is the market-inspired cuisine. In Port Grimaud, La Table du Mareyeur will bring dinner to you if you’d rather stay in than dine at the restaurant’s waterside terrace. (10-11 Place des Artisans, 83315 Port Grimaud, ☎ 33(0)4 94 56 06 77, fax 33 04 94 56 40 75, info@mareyeur.com or equiries@mareyeur.com, www.mareyeur.com; open March to November, Christmas and New Years, €€-€€€€). Fresh crustaceans, lobsters, crabs, langoustines, king prawns, fresh tuna tartare, can all be home delivered. The lunch menu at €25 is a bargain.

Nearby, try Le Plaisancier (8 Place des Artisans. 83310 Port Grimaud, ☎ 33 04 94 56 07 04, sebboi@club-internet.fr; open March to November, Christmas and New Year, €-€€) for grilled fish, gambas flamed in cognac, oysters, mussels, traditional dishes, on a canal-side terrace.

L’Amiral (Le Port, 83120 Ste Maxime, ☎ 33 04 94 43 99 36, fax 33 04 94 43 99 36, €-€€) serves reasonably priced grilled fish and regional cuisine on the jetty near the center of Ste Maxime.

La Gruppi (Avenue Charles de Gaulle, 83120 Ste Maxime, ☎ 33 04 94 96 03 61, lagruppi@lagruppi.com, www.lagruppi.com, €€) is an airy, traditional Provencal restaurant with a solid reputation for fresh, well-prepared seafood at moderate prices. Long-established and popular.

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