Eat and Drink in French Riviera

Symbolic of French seafood is bouillabaisse, the fish soup spawned in Marseille and a staple all along the coast. It is made with a wide mix of ingredients, principally red mullet, snapper, monkfish, conger eel and scorpion fish, with fresh tomatoes, saffron and olive oil thrown in. It is cooked as a stew, the broth is served first as a soup, and the fish itself is eaten later.

For light lunch fare you can't beat a tasty salade Niçoise with seared tuna, fresh greens, capers, black olives, beans, hard-boiled egg, quartered tomatoes, boiled potatoes and anchovies. If you are craving shellfish, order fruits de mer, a wonderful combo dish comprised of mussels, scallops, the local crawfish known as langouste, and giant prawns. A great fish delicacy is loup grillé au fenouil, a complete sea bass flambéed with pastis then grilled over burning fennel twigs.

The town of Mougins is renowned for its cuisine. At the top of the list of restaurants here is Le Moulin de Mougins, created by celebrity chef Roger Vergé and eminently popular among the Cannes Film Festival cognoscenti.

Juan-les-Pins is a place unabashedly devoted to nightlife, and if you're at your best when the sun goes down you can't go wrong here. The best restaurant in town is La Terrasse, offering a combination of excellent wines and a menu second to none including cannelloni with clams, and langouste rôtie with risotto and pointes d'asperge.

Just down the road in Cap d'Antibes some of the most tastefully-prepared seafood and bouillabaisse in the region is found at De Bacon. Nouvelle cuisine at comparable prices is available nearby at La Bonne Auberge. Nice is a world unto itself in many ways, especially when it comes to dining out.