Artisan Bakers in Nice

[bethesdabakers]

Off to Nice for a few days next weekend for important personal celebrations.

Inbetweentimes I would like to visit any artisan bakeries of note. My particular interest is natuarally leavened bread baked in masonry ovens.

I should be grateful for any suggestions.

Best wishes,

Mick

[menton1]

Sounds like a great place to do some personal celebrating, Mick... I think Robert Brown might have the best input on this; in the meantime, here is a list of all the artisan bakers in the Nice area-- you might call to see if they use the methods you are looking for. Boulangeries in Nice

Hope the weather gets better-- saw the opening of the Cannes Film Fest on the TV and the weather was damp and chilly Wed.

[bethesdabakers]

Thank you for that - anywhere worth visiting will be reported back.

Whilst we hope for good weather, celebrations will occur regardless (life in North Wales teaches us this).

Best wishes,

Mick

[rgural]

Mick:

Near the cours saleya, there is:

Le Four a Bois (Chez Espuno) 35 Rue Droite, as the name implies they have

a wood burning oven, which is visible from the boutique (beware I think they're closed during the early afternoon).

North of the train station, there is imo better bread, but with a gas deck oven:

Le Fournil Borriglione (Boulangerie Jean-Marc Bardonnat) 20 Ave Borriglione (good baguette de tradition, miche and on fridays seigle).

Have fun,

Roger

[menton1]

Mick:

Near the cours saleya, there is:

Le Four a Bois (Chez Espuno) 35 Rue Droite, as the name implies they have

a wood burning oven, which is visible from the boutique (beware I think they're closed during the early afternoon).

North of the train station, there is imo better bread, but with a gas deck oven:

Le Fournil Borriglione (Boulangerie Jean-Marc Bardonnat) 20 Ave Borriglione (good baguette de tradition, miche and on fridays seigle).

Have fun,

Roger

Thanks for this, Roger-- also expanded details about both of these places on the link I provided above.

Edited May 16, 2004 by menton1 (log)

[bethesdabakers]

Thanks to you both.

We shall certainly have fun although no seigle - home by Friday.

Best wishes,

Mick

[bethesdabakers]

Errm - I'm afraid I've got to admit that the boulangerie research took second place to the celebrations. Thanks to everyone for contributions - we had a great time and at least it means I can contribute a little to the thread on restaurants in Nice.

Roger - we didn't get as far as the station never mind North of it so le Fornil Borriglione will have to wait until next time but, because we hardly moved out of the old town, we were forever walking past Chez Espuno on the Rue Droite. Unfortunately we also walked in. As you say, there is indeed a masonry oven behind the counter but do they actually use it? The bread we bought there hadn't been anywhere near it. Is this what you were implying?

Thanks again.

Mick

[rgural]

Mick,

They were definitely using that oven, at least when I was there 4 years or so ago. Why do you say the bread you had hadn't been near it? It's not the greatest bread in the world but I found it to be better than the other bakeries in that area. This isn't necessarily saying much.

If your familiar with Eric Kayser's bakeries in Paris, Le Fournil Borriglione uses similiar techniques and the breads I mentioned earlier are all very good. It's just a little bit further north than Ave Malaussena, which is a huge market street.

Roger

[bethesdabakers]

Dear Roger,

Because we were taking the celebrations seriously, the research was sketchy to say the least. For most of our stay Chez Espuno was closed so we never saw the bakery operating. The only time we bought bread we grabbed a baguette at the end of the day (not the best time). I'd have rated it as bog-standard supermarket. On the bottom of the bread you could see the perforations from the metal racks - they had never rested on an oven floor.

I am familiar with Eric Kayser's bakeries. We had a flying visit to Paris in February to celbrate my birthday (always something to celebrate) and stayed on the Rue Monge between Dominique Saibron at one end and Eric Kayser at the other. Staggered back to Wales with a big bag of bread and a copy of Eric's book 100% Pain. Anyway, it's good to have an excuse to go back to Nice.

Best wishes,

Mick