Learn how to eat on a budget from Marseille to Genoa. Photo / Stephen Emms
One can easily navigate their cuisine on the cheap if you know where to look, writes Stephen Emms.
Last year, I took a foodie rail trip from London to Paris, Bordeaux, and along the coast to the northern Spanish resorts of San Sebastian and Bilbao. The goal? To eat as best I could on a limited budget. It was so much fun, I decided to do the same this year during another of Europe’s great coastal rail trips from Marseille to Genoa.
You may think eating out on this glamorous stretch along the southern French and Italian Rivieras is eye-wateringly expensive, but it’s not, if you’re armed with a hack or two.
While the route is 400km and takes around six hours if you travel direct between the big two industrial port cities, my partner and I whiled away a week or so exploring the eclectic towns in between (note: train travel is surprisingly cheap). And the dynamism of sprawling Marseille – with its street culture and casual dining aesthetic – perfectly sets the tone before taking in the pleasing pastel blur of Nice, with its picture-postcard backstreets, and unreconstructed old towns of Sanremo and Genoa in Italy.
The resulting combination? Half gritty, half pretty, all the while the sparkling Mediterranean is visible in azure flashes between stretches of tunnel. Now, let’s eat.
France’s second-largest city will never win awards for cuteness. Yet its cosmopolitan urban feel is unique on the Riviera, its sometimes frenetic neighbourhoods alive with international markets and street food. Start at the Marche Des Capucins in Noailles, the web of streets lined with tempting multicultural stalls, all spices, wet fish and exotic pastries. It feels more north African than southern French (tip: try the mahjouba, a type of savoury Algerian crepe for a couple of euros, or the Tunisian “brik”, a tuna, egg and potato pastry).
For something more sit-down, most restaurants in the smarter Vieux Port area serve a plat du jour for €16. Often, it’s a beef daube (slow-cooked aromatic stew) and at the tiny hole-in-the-wall Pain A L’Ail, it’s just €9.90 ($19.30).
Your unmissable stop in this port city should, however, be La Boite a Sardine, its quirky interior furnished with fishing memorabilia, from life jackets to buoys, shelves piled with tinned fish cans. Here, the owner talks you through the daily changing chalkboard menu (in English if you prefer): super fresh plates of marinated anchovies in golden olive oil and stuffed butterflied sardines with fresh sourdough are just €7 a pop.
When evening rolls in, hit relaxed craft beer bar Les Berthom, which serves local pilsner for €4 and oozing croque-monsieur for €9. A final tip: swap Michelin-recommended Sepia (although its €57 three-course menu is worth it if you have the cash) for its adjoining bar Julis, a guinguette offering cheaper tapas alongside phenomenal sea and city views.
If you’re as penny-pinching in this famed southern French resort as we were, head straight to the outdoor market at Cours Saleya in Vieux Nice, open every day except Monday, and renowned for local products like olive oils and pistou. Two must-try specialities, cooked over a wood fire, are pissaladière, a delicious flatbread stuffed with olives, onions and anchovy, and socca, flat chickpea pancakes. Both can be bought at the legendary Chez Theresa, a stall trading since 1925, for about €3 (it also does a signature chard pie). Warning: the queue moves slowly at weekends.
For a vibrant dinner, try Berco in the winding cobbled streets of the old town where, if you can bag a table, small plates hover at about €6. If it has to be the palm tree-lined promenade, hip hangout Babel Babel serves iconic local specialty, panisse (chickpea fritters) at €6.
One train journey along the cerulean sea later, and Sanremo is just over the border into Italy, its steep old town known as the “pinecone” and topped with a highly photogenic 18th-century church.
Food-wise, the best bargains are to be had at city institution La Tavernetta, which dates back to 1950 and serves sardenaira (the Ligurian version of pissaladière with anchovies, local olives, garlic cloves and capers), or focaccia formaggio for €1.20, while coffee is a humble euro and, during aperitivo hour, an ice-cold glass of wine or frizzante is just €1.50.
For more carby steals, Buon Apetito is another long-running bakery, its slices of focaccia al formaggio, pizzas, and torta slightly pricier at €2.50-€4. Roam the daily market, Mercato Annonario, for the tasty torta di verdura di zucca (courgette pastry); cheaper still, here are sardenaira slices around one euro. Don’t forget that during aperitivo hour, ordering a spritz or a negroni at most bars often comes with a plate of enticing snacks, including pizzas, meats and cheeses, for the price of the drink; this alone keeps costs down.
This port city is seemingly unfathomable at first, its dense network of old town alleyways breaking out into vast piazzas, its harbour, the Porto Antico, an unlikely mishmash of architectural styles. But stay focused, and just off Piazza Corvetto in the theatre district is historic bakery, La Farinata dei Teatri. Supposedly unchanged since 1861, it’s known purely for its eponymous crispy chickpea pancake, fresh from the oven and served in a wide pan for a few euros.
Meanwhile, a 15-minute walk away is the Mercato Orientale. This food market, in a former 17th-century convent cloister, makes a fascinating wander, with fritto misto or pesto lasagne around €6 at Bar del Mercato (tip: ask for a local wine to match it). Upstairs is a contemporary streetfood market, home to a mouthwatering range of outlets (300g of tagliata at La Carne is €18), while an enoteca allows you to try different wines at lowish prices.
Finally, off central Piazza Raffaele de Ferrai, end your coastal rail trip with a melt-in-the-mouth lasagne (€12.50) at Trattoria Rosmarino, served Genoese style using white beef and pork ragu.