Description: When in Nice, try Niçois food. At least, that’s what my mom and I thought we’d do during our first night’s stay in the city. We walked up and down the Cours Saleya checking out the different cafes that had sprung to life after the flower market closed that afternoon. Several of the cafes had struck deals with street performers to entertain the customers and spilt donations.
We came across a chalkboard with what looked to be good food, but, as we knew little in the way of French, we weren’t sure. The hostess came up and told us that she could seat us right away, that it was the best café in town, etc., etc. We asked for a little help with the menu first. I’d point to something and ask "Qu’est que c’est?" and they’d explain "beef" or "chicken." So we decided to be brave and sit down.
We ordered a carafe d’eau (a bottle of tap water, no charge, compared to several euro for bottled water, yet perfectly safe) and I got the beef, Mom got the chicken. The food was acceptable – my beef, while I had asked for bien cuit (well done) was a little on the charred side, but the pommes frites (french fries) were good. Mom’s chicken was smothered with cheese, and was also acceptable. It was hard for us two Americans to get used to French food. However, the chocolate mousse that topped off the meal was incredibly good. Made the whole meal worth while. All this cost us about 25 euro. Our waiter was patient and not rude at all, trying to understand our terrible French, and making his own attempts in terrible English. But he was good humored and cute to boot!
As Americans in France, it was also hard to accept the pace of eating that the French have. The bill won’t come unless you ask for "l’addition." There’s no rush to turn over the tables. In many places, you could sit down and order a drink and stay there all night with no pressure. So we enjoyed the ambiance of the Nexus Café for nearly two hours. But it was a wonderful night.
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