Visit to Marseille - Day 3

31 August 2011: After breakfast, we took a walk down the Corniche JFK to check out the beaches along the coastline, to get ourselves ready for lunch at Chez Fonfon (140 Rue du Vallon des Auffes).  I really enjoyed this walk along the coast and if we had time, we would also visit the gardens, which would no doubt have more tropical specimens….including the ubiquitous cacti and agaves. 



Bouillabaisse at Fonfon

 Our only problem that we foresaw at lunch was that we had been told to have the bouillabaisse, and yet it would be a very filling dish to have at lunchtime, especially when we had dinner at Le Petit Nice to follow.  So we took a compromise of having one portion of bouillabaisse and one green salad.  We had such high expectations of the bouillabaisse that we felt rather disappointed by the not so appetising looking plate of potatoes and fish that arrived – plus some of it didn’t smell nor taste so fresh, especially the rascasses.  My green salad was so drenched in dressing that I could only eat half of it.  The toasted croutons and dips that came free at the beginning of the meal were probably the best part – Richard’s favourite was the meshed pea dip, mine was the fromage blanc dip.  For wine, we had a half bottle of 2008 Château Simone, which tasted rather flabby and uninteresting.  Perhaps if we had gone a bit earlier (unlike the 13:45 when we showed up), we would have had a better experience??   Anyway, at least we can say we’ve ticked this one off!

After lunch, we walked (or climbed up the hill) to the Nôtre Dame de La Garde (at altitude of around 148 metres).  It originated as a chapel built in 1218 and was then enlarged by the Bishop of Marseille in 1851 and the basilique was built in 1864.  It was topped with a giant statue of Our Mary carrying the infant Jesus and blessing the city and its harbour, the people and the visitors.  It was certainly a worthwhile visit and a very good spot to get a panoramic view of Marseille, the harbour and the ports. We then went to check out a wine bar, La Part des Anges (33 Rue Sainte).  The barman was very chatty and began to talk about the differences of the wines of the region.  We got on the subject of vins rosés and he was very vocal about how rosé wines should be the expression of terroir, rather than the result of technology-focused winemaking and high-profile marketing targeted at Saint Tropez.  I think he had a very fair point, but I think credit should also be given to those who have taken a lot of effort to overcome the challenges of transforming rosé into a serious wine……..I highly recommend La Part des Anges, both as a wine bar and also as a lunch/dinner spot.  There is a decent menu and the chef’s fish and bars were widely advertised at the counter!  There are a few tables on the pavement – so you could enjoy a bottle of wine with a few friends, while enjoying the scenes of the street.  Rue Sainte seemed a very interesting street, bohemian chic and exotic, with quite a few eateries.  Turning the corner from Rue Sainte, we arrived at Rue Paradis, with a number of high-end smart boutiques.  



Deep fried shrimps at cocktail

 Our second and last (on this trip) at Le Petit Nice.  We started with an aperitif at the bar - we decided to give the outdoor terrace a miss. The mild mistral had rather strengthened and it was felt quite poignantly at the height of the Notre Dame de La Garde. I thought I ought to have a pastis to round off our visit to Marseille.  Some cocktail snacks came. They looked pretty much the same as the previous day's, except that deep fried white bait was replaced by deep fried tiny shrimps, which were so sweet and tasty! And interestingly, not bad with the pastis! 

We decided to go for the legendary bouille-abaisse, in the Passédat style...this being our second bouillabaisse on the same day. Well, the version at Le Petit Nice was a very sleek interpretation of the traditional dish.  Entirely elaborate and ceremonial.

For the white wine, we had chosen a bottle of 2007 Domaine Gauby Vieilles Vignes, Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes (http://www.domainegauby.fr/)  (40% Macabéo, 30% Grenache Blanc, 5% Carignan Blanc, 10% Grenache Gris, 15% Chardonnay; very old low-yielding vines, around 50 – 100 years old; natural yeast, 7-8 months sure lie; 65% maturation in barrels, 35% in tanks). I found this wine rather evolved. Some lemon, honey, apricot and spicy character, and something very savoury and yeasty.  Medium body, but rather low in acidity, to balance the flavour intensity and the weight.  Very weak mid-palate, though there was some length.  I was a bit baffled by the wine, not entirely sure if it tasted like how it should, and thought it might improve with a bit of decanting, but sadly it didn't, not for me anyway.  I wonder if we had an ‘out of condition’ bottle – we had asked the sommelier to try and he declared it ‘in condition’.  (Surprisingly, the same sommelier had informed us that this wine was a blend of Chardonnay, Marsanne and Roussanne…..I would not have expected to be misinformed by the sommelier in a 3-star restaurant!)  The Wine Advocate had scored this wine 94 points, with drinking window till 2016.  It certainly didn’t taste anything like the tasting notes in the Wine Advocate.  Based on this bottle, I would probably score this 14.5/20…but I think we should try another bottle to see if we had a dud.



Coquillage carpaccio

 The Menu Bouille-Abaisse started with a carpaccio of coquillage, full of the flavours of the sea and lightly seasoned. This was accompanied by a cream of chives, with some seafood fritters.  A cream of carrots, with an apple sorbet, shortly followed to freshen the palate.



Beautiful platter of fish in saffron broth

 This was followed by an assembly of beautifully grilled/roasted fish (monkfish, whiting, daurade and some other fish that we could not catch the name of) and lobster in a saffron fish stock with mirepoix of tender vegetables. Very colourful and full of fresh flavours, enhanced by the saffron fish stock.

The assembly of bouille-abaisse
Imagine all the layers on top of each other on arrival



Dorade et Pageot

 Finally, the pièce de resistance!  A tower of 4 layers. The top layer was a tube of soupe de poission, with the grated gruyère and rouille of the maison. The second layer contained potato cubes cooked in saffron fish stock. The third presented 2 pieces of beautifully cooked filets of daurade and pageot partially immersed in the soupe de poisson. Underneath in the 4th layer was a hot bouillon with herbs keeping the fish at a nice temperature.  The two types of fish, though similar, had different textures (the pageot slightly firmer and the daurade more delicate) and tasted best soaked in the extremely intense fish soup. The fish soup had this phenomenal intensity and texture that was simply sensational!  Interestingly this last course would go much better with red wine, and we had a half bottle of 2004 Domaine Terrebrune, Bandol, organically certified (http://www.vin-bandol-terrebrune.fr/) .   A blend of 85% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache and 5% Cinsault. Raised in very large (50-60 hl) oak vats for 18 months.  Liquorice, herbal, boysenberry, black cherry, spicy, savoury and slightly minerally.  Moderately tannic and the tannin was not astringent at all to be in the way of the food. A very good match with enough acidity to balance the richness of the flavours and enough weight/mouthfeel to match the texture of the fish soup.  Very approachable and a perfectly pitched expression of the grape varieties and the terroir.  Drinking very well now, and for the next 8 – 10+ years. (And I highly recommend the matching with la soupe de poisson (and make sure it’s one with a rich consistency!!!)   16/20




Apple dessert

 For dessert, it was an assembly of apple flavoured mousse/jelly/sorbet/marshmallow and apple-flavoured grissini. Rather tasty!! Quite rare for us that we really did not have room for cheese!  Well, we didn’t….!