Restaurant Name: Castel Plage beach & restaurant
Castel Plage in common with the other fourteen private beaches along the Prom has its own restaurant and I think it is worth paying a little bit more than usual to eat by the sea in the lovely open surroundings. I really like this restaurant - you can check out the menu before you go down the steps.
Castel Plage is considered to be one of the trendier (and gay friendly) beaches along the Promenade and it has had a complete face-lift for 2004, everything is brand-new; restaurant, sun-loungers and parasols, loos, snack bar, everything. I love the beautiful steel sculpture(hand-forged by a local artist in the Old Town) on the roof.
The blue colours of 2003 have been replaced by tasteful beige and the sun-beds no longer have sweaty mattresses, just simple unadorned web mesh you just need a towel (ok perhaps they're not quite as comfortable as a smelly old padded mattress but at least it feels clean) Note: 2006 - they have added new padded mattresses for comfort!
The restaurant is large and popular, with straightforward tables and chairs, with or without shade as you prefer and there is a relaxed area with brown basket-weave sofas and stools with soft cushions, we've tried both and I prefer the tables and chairs, a better height for eating I think. They've added a water feature too, this year.
The loos here are interesting - they are communal, with a waist-height screen separating the men from the ladies, there are two loos each, a changing room and a shower, all a bit small, you share a wash basin with the men (so you can look at each other over the screen when washing your hands), no sign of any hand-drier, but early days and perhaps they haven't put in the finishing touches yet.
This restaurant is very popular and everyone piles in for lunch. People dress up a bit to eat here and many obviously came to eat only and not use the beach facilities. (Even if you have booked the sun-loungers, you are not automatically reserved a table - let them know)
Favorite Dish: What to eat. The Chauvignol salad - goats' cheese bruschetta with salad and pine-nuts, it is gorgeous. The Nicoise Salads are excellent. The husband had chicken salad, said it was good. It was Tandoori-style and came with rice which he likes so all was well. The daughter shared our food. She had the Parma ham and melon starter once - the portions are enormous. The starters are all big, easily enough for a main course. The smoked salmon blinis look good; I may try this next time. I have had scallop salad here, this has been disappointing - it was a bit boring, just scallops, leaves and tomato, not much else, you would expect a bit more for these prices.
Salads are about 14 euros (see what I mean about the price), pasta dishes start at 11 euros but go up in price very quickly. Steaks are about 16 euros, although Tournedos Rossini is 28 euros.
Specialty dishes – mostly fresh fish, a couple of examples:- octopus and squid fricassee, 22 euros and a John Dory fish with sea-food cassolette, 26 euros. An example of the meat specialities is Loin of Lamb roasted with Rosemary, 22 euros.
The wine in the restaurant is expensive too in my opinion; the cheapest bottle is 17 euros, half a bottle, 11 euros. Prices go up to about 40 euros. (Compare this to the Blue Beach; their cheapest bottle is 9 euros)
I'll just mention the snack bar. It wasn't finished in June but hopefully it will be open by now. Last year, you could buy wonderful filled baguettes to eat by your sun-lounger or in the snack bar. Much cheaper than eating in the restaurant. Last year they also did (and I hope they do it again this year) a ‘special’ sandwich, a sort of triple-layer club sandwich, with sliced bread, held together with a wooden skewer - these are really yummy. You can get chips (frites) from the snack bar but not in the restaurant, don't see why not, not stylish enough I expect.
On the whole, very nice indeed, we'll no doubt be back soon.
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Theme: Local
Comparison: more expensive than average
Phone: 04 93 85 22 66
Address: 'Castel Plage' 8 quai des Etats Unis, Nice
Directions: The last private beach concession along the Promenade des Anglais. At the foot of the Chateau (Castle Hill) around the corner from the Port and in front of the Cours Saleya in the Old Town.
Website: http://www.allaboutnice.com/beaches.html
on Jul 1, 2004
