The hotel will also begin hosting a farmers’ market in the courtyard on Saturday mornings, which will be open to guests and locals alike. It’s five-star, to be sure, but there’s nothing pretentious or stuffy about it; kids are welcomed and embraced (with family rooms and a kids’ club); spaces are comfortable and warm; the property itself is grand in scale, but somehow, manages to remain subtle. Hôtel du Couvent wasn’t designed to wow, but rather to blend in—though that may be improbable for the buzziest hotel opening the French Riviera has seen this year.
Where to Eat and Drink
Nice has always been a food town—characterized by its regional cuisine and iconic dishes like salade Niçoise and daube Niçoise, as well as its beloved street food snack socca, a pancake made with chickpea flour. You can find these dishes, among other traditional, home-style fare, at institutions like La Meranda, La Petite Maison, and Chez Davia, or at the more casual bistro and wine bar La Part des Anges. But over the past decade, Nice’s dining scene has been reinvigorated by a bevy of newcomers infusing new energy and diverse flavors to a town that has long rested on its laurels. From neo-bistros—like hipster hotspot Le Canon, with its inventive takes on the traditional dishes—to the city’s more recent wave of restaurants introducing a broader range of international cuisines, there are now plenty of dining spots that will appeal to younger, diverse crowds of visitors and expats alike.
Among the first to introduce Nice to a new frontier of high-quality international cuisine was Banh Mei, helmed by self-taught chef and owner Thi Hieu Nguyen, which initially opened in Vieux Nice as a Vietnamese street food joint in 2013 but shifted its approach over the years to become a destination for both Asian and Mediterranean gastronomy, while still retaining its casual atmosphere. (Nguyen now works in partnership with sommelier Renaud Châteaugiron, formerly of Clown Bar, who joined her in 2021.) In a city typically characterized by casual home-style dining, chef and sommelier Vanessa Masse shook things up when she opened Pure & V in 2018, serving gastronomic Scandinavian cuisine in the form of a seasonal tasting menu that benefits from Provence’s local ingredients sourced directly from local farmers, breeders, and fisherman. As a pioneer of Nice’s natural wine scene, it was fitting when in 2023, Vanessa decided to expand her culinary vision by opening Pure & Vins, a more intimate and casual antidote to its Michelin-starred predecessor, where her Finnish chef combines Asian and Nordic flavors in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. Babel Babel followed a similar path, energizing the Promenade des Anglais when it opened in 2019 in a lively space with balcony seating (the terrace to beat in Nice), serving Mediterranean-style small plates, followed by the arrival of its second venue, a wine bar, Barrique, which opened in August of 2023. Barrique combines all of the elements that made Babel Babel such a success: light bites, an extensive natural wine list, and a friendly atmosphere that sees visitors regularly pour into the street.