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Restaurant Name: Le Tire Bouchon

This is a super restaurant, consistently good, a great choice for a romantic meal, open every day, evenings only. Note: 2006, Le Tire Bouchon has a new chef from the exclusive Chateau d'Eze. Note the set price is now about 29-30 euros.

A gym buddy who owned two of the best restaurants in Liverpool (The Other Place in Allerton and the city centre) visited Nice for the first time two weeks ago, tried this restaurant and recommended it. Her say-so was good enough for me - the husband and I reserved a table at Le Tire Bouchon (meaning 'cork-screw') for our 10th wedding anniversary.

I had always quite fancied the look of this restaurant although we had never been - the prices always looked a little on the high side. Also, it is only ever open in the evenings, which has not been much use to us with a youngish child in tow.

The restaurant opens at 7 pm. We were offered a table in the rear section of the restaurant "less smoky". You have to go outside and around the corner on to rue de l'Abbaye to reach this part.

The decor is bordello-red with mirrors and the lighting is good - low and intimate and the tables were beautifully laid.

Service was excellent and all the small details were right, this is a quality place. It was very popular, people without reservations were turned away. I suspected that smokers were encouraged to reserve a table at the front part of the restaurant. The clientele looked to be mostly tourists; nearly everyone spoke English although from the accents, few were from the UK. I was surprised to see so few French, perhaps the combination of the touristy location and being Easter kept the French away - many prefer to celebrate festivals en famille.

The 3-course menu for 27 euros offered seven choices of starter and six choices of main course plus cheese or a pudding. Some olives and slices of salami arrived while we were studying the menu. Details of the 27-euro menu are on the web link given below; it is very tempting - full of rich fatty meats, pate, rich sauces and game.

Favorite Dish: The husband picked the winner this night. For an extra 7 euros, and to reward his infinite patience over the last ten years, he ordered Tournedos Rossini, with goose liver. It came wrapped in a bundle of fat tied on with string. Accompanied by a strong Chateauneuf du Pape for 32 euros (there were cheaper wines available from about 18 euros), he said it was one of the best meals he had ever had - and that spans a few years! I forgot to say he started with Scampi and leeks in a cream casserole. I started with prawn and crab souffle - yummy and piping hot, followed by scallops and crayfish with broccoli and dauphinoise potatoes, excellent too, but I think the husband made the better choice. We didn't want to spend 27 euros on a menu for the daughter as there was not much that would appeal to her. I hit upon the happy idea of two small courses from the a la carte. I had thought a starter then pudding but all she fancied was the cheese course (see inset photo), 7, 40 euros, followed by a sweet pudding. The cheese was superb and I am glad I ordered it as I may be tempted to choose it instead of a sweet pudding another day (for we shall definitely be returning). A large plate of six good-sized chunks of three different varieties of cheese, one a goat cheese, plus salad and apple in a good dressing - delicious and the daughter tucked in happily making the most of the basket of stone-ground bread. For pudding, the daughter, surprise, chose the hot chocolate pudding, husband had the tarte tatin - posh apple pie and as a nod to the diet I had a lime sorbet, utterly delicious followed by decent coffee (6,20 euros for two double espressos) Not the cheapest meal we've ever had in Nice but one of the best value and certainly one of the best quality. The wine, coffee and Badoit - a half bottle of this mineral water cost 3,20 euros, bumped the price up but the total of just under 110 euros compares very well to restaurants of a similar standard in London and Liverpool.
Here's to the next 10 years.

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Theme: French
Comparison: more expensive than average

Phone: 04 93 92 63 64
Address: 19 rue de la Prefecture, Old Nice 06300
Directions: Rue de la Prefecture is in the Old Town of Nice - the road that runs parallel to, and one block north of the Cours Saleya - the famous flower market of Nice. Open every evening from 7pm. There is a good map on the website below.
Website: www.le-tire-bouchon.com
Other Contact: (2005: set menu now 28 euros)