Marseille Trip

...From the Docks to the Dish
Being a port city, it is not surprising that seafood is popular in Marseille. Each morning, fisherman sell their catches on the docks of the Old Port to restaurants and other patrons. Some of the sea creatures for sale looked downright scary.

The city’s most famous delicacy is a seafood soup called bouillabaisse (pronounced boo-ya-bess). I got the impression that visiting Marseille and not having a bowl of bouillabaisse is like visiting Venice and not doing a gondola ride. Therefore, Thursday night, Traci and I perused the posted menus of the Old Port restaurants trying to decide where we would have our ‘bouillabaisse in Marseille’ experience.

We soon discovered this was probably going to be the most expensive bowl of soup we’ve ever had. Most of the restaurants were offering bouillabaisse at the equivalence of $50 - $70 per person! The menus made sure to mention sharing is not allowed. We kept walking until we came across a restaurant offering this dish for the equivalence of $35. Bingo! La Cuisine au Beurre Restaurant became our dining venue for the evening.

Our waitress was very personable. I found this to be the case for all the wait staff we encountered in Marseille. This particular young lady was fluent in English. Although, I enjoyed the opportunities to practice communicating in French, I was kind of relieved I did not have to torture another waiter with my cringe-worthy French.

Our waitress took the time to explain how to eat bouillabaisse. She brought a basket of hard bread chips, a bowl of broth, a plate of seafood with vegetables, and a side of rouille. Rouille is an orange garlicky mayonnaise. It was disgusting so I left it alone. She explained I was supposed to put all the ingredients into the bowl of broth. However, this was not as simple as it sounds. One thing I had to get used to in Marseille is that the seafood is cooked whole and served whole. My seafood plate had three fish and a lobster. I had to cut the heads and tails off the fish and then slice the meat from the bones. I had to crack the lobster shell to retrieve its meat. I had to cut up the baked potatoes. By the time I finished all this and added it to the broth, my soup was cold. I had one of the waiters reheat it for me. After all that, I thought the bouillabaisse was good but I don't think I would go out of my way to order it again - at least not for $35.

Most of the dining downtown is outdoors. With the mild evening air, the city lights, and sight of the boats bobbing in the harbor, dinner can be one of the most enchanting Marseille experiences. On the other hand, outdoor dining in Marseille is not without challenges. Smoking is still allowed outdoors in public in France. Chances are good that someone is going to light up at a table near you.

We were made aware of one of the other hazards of eating dinner outside in Marseille - more so after dark. While we were waiting for the waiter to bring our food Traci screamed and almost kicked our table over. I looked up to see what the problem was and caught the glimpse of more...