A Day of Rain and Dinner at La P'tite Cocotte, Nice, France

A day of rain had been forecast before I left home but you have to hope when you’re only somewhere for 4 nights - somewhere that’s supposed to be sunny in September - that the weather people have got it wrong. Sadly not. It was only a light rain when I emerged from the hotel this morning to seek breakfast but it had clearly been raining heavily in the night. I made my way down to Pain e Cie (which was a Pain Quotidien when I was here in 2006 and is much the same) where I ordered a Nicoise breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice, croissant and coffee for €7.50. It was good and I liked sitting by the window looking over the Saleya market. It feels like being in the heart of Nice.

Outside the rain was getting heavier again so I made my way back to the hotel for a while. For lunch I ventured westwards rather than in the Old Town direction as I’d read about La Femme Du Fromager and thought it would be a good place for lunch. Weirdly it also turned out to be a lot like a Pain Quotidien but I don’t think there’s a connection.

I decided to order a Salade Nicoise which was on the specials blackboard. Then I was told it was finished. No Salade Nicoise in Nice?? I settled for a Nicoise Tartine instead. A tartine is an open sandwich. This one came with a gorgeous, slightly warm ratatouille on some thin sourdough toast with some tapenade on it. It was delicious and I felt slightly virtuous that it also seemed a healthy option for lunch! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).