Riviera Pebbles Blog: Restaurant Gésu, Nice

Posted on 2nd Oct 2019 in Eats & Drinks

Gésu's menu - barely changed in three decades

Euro-for-Euro, Gésu must rank as the best restaurant in Nice. Its terrace heaves with diners who bellow orders from plastic tables, while sinking €8 pitchers of Cotes de Provence.

Like the prices, Gésu’s menu hasn’t changed in decades. The sole dishes include daube, a Niçois ravioli stuffed with slow-cooked oxtail. Plus a handful of pizzas (the Napoli with fresh anchovies is delicious). And pasta with pistou, the local take on pesto from across the Ligurian border.

Drinks? Order any aperitif aside from pastis (€2.50) and the waiter will mark you out as royalty. Wines aren’t classed by provenance but by colour: red, white or rosé. All three of them arrive chilled in summer. And finally, order a basket of bread and they may ask you to chop your own.

The proof of Gésu’s value is in the pudding. We’re not talking about the Ile Flottante, Creme Caramel and desserts last seen in 1973, although these are bona fide menu items here. Rather the entire ensemble of truly tasty food, eaten with locals at rickety tables, in front of a 17th-century church. Bon appetit.

1 rue du Jésus, Nice