![\"Marseille](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SEI_268218965.jpg\")
Marseille is a thriving port city (Photo: Chalffy\/Getty)<\/p>\n
I can back this up with cold, hard facts. Marseille has two restaurants that have been awarded three Michelin stars, while Lyon<\/a> has none, for example. But as it\u2019s blasphemous for someone who lives in Lyon to wax this lyrical about another city\u2019s cuisine, you can simply take my word for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the dishes that have had my tastebuds singing recently was a plate of UFO-shaped saucers of panisse (deep-fried chickpea-flour chips) with tempura courgette flowers and stems, served on a chilled tomato pur\u00e9e. This was on the sunny terrace of T\u00eate d\u2019Ail<\/a> in Noailles, one of Marseille\u2019s busiest quartiers. Not even the first-rate people-watching could distract me from how good the panisse was: crisp on the outside and smooth as fudge inside.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The second food to induce a reverie was undersold on the menu. The starter was listed as taramasalata and grissini \u2013 the kind of thing you\u2019d pick up in the M&S \u201cfood to go\u201d aisle. But what a taramasalata it was. <\/p>\n Poissonnerie Kennedy<\/a>, a former fishmongers in Marseille\u2019s trendy 7th arrondissement, opened this summer. The dip was as thick as p\u00e2t\u00e9, yet velvet-smooth. For an embarrassingly long time, I didn\u2019t know taramasalata was made from fish roe because the taste was so far removed from the base ingredient, but here there was no mistaking it. <\/p>\n Garnished with glossy green olive oil, it was the palest beige \u2013 nothing like the artificial-looking pink stuff you\u2019d take to a picnic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n My main dish at the same restaurant was pan-seared swordfish with heirloom tomatoes \u2014 delicious, but let me skip straight to the dessert I\u2019d now choose on my deathbed. <\/p>\n This cr\u00e8me caramel was served straight from an enormous metal terrine at the table, decadently creamy and extremely generous in vanilla. Like the rest of the dishes, it was made in an open-plan kitchen that fascinated my partner to the point that he barely addressed a word to me during the meal.\u00a0<\/p>\n The third meal wowed me with its ingenuity. It was cooked by sunlight, in Europe\u2019s first solar-powered restaurant, Le Pr\u00e9sage<\/a>. The brainchild of Pierre-Andr\u00e9 Aubert, an aeronautical engineer-turned-restaurateur, has its own herb and vegetable garden and the cooking is done on hotplates powered by enormous solar panels. <\/p>\n I devoured a grilled courgette, tomato and mozzarella salad, and \u2013 in an unabashed lack of self-restraint \u2013 three starters. When the options are fried aubergine in a tahini sauce with toasted hazelnuts; roasted carrots in sesame oil; and gazpacho the colour of a London bus, how could I choose just one? <\/p>\n Although Lyon also has many wonderful and creative restaurants, the city\u2019s reputation for great gastronomy is due to a little luck and a lot of great timing.<\/p>\n The Michelin guide was first published in 1901 as a motorist\u2019s handbook designed to encourage more people to drive around France \u2013 and thus buy more Michelin tyres. Most motorists driving to the French Riviera from Paris did so via Lyon, so it made sense to recommend plenty of restaurants here, and the spotlight therefore fell on Lyonnais bouchons \u2013 traditional, offal-heavy restaurants. <\/p>\n Marseille, however, was at this time a thriving port city with busy docks and a diverse migrant population. <\/p>\n These days it means that the city is spoilt for international ingredients. Restaurants serve properly spicy food here (the Holy Grail in France, where hot dishes tend to be toned down to suit the local palate), mountains of fragrant couscous, and any global cuisine you could wish for: Algerian, Lebanese, Taiwanese, you name it. <\/p>\n As I pick a restaurant for this evening in Lyon, I\u2019m left daydreaming about grilled octopus by candlelight at Ripaille<\/a>, of the tangy, marinated peppers at Le Plongeon<\/a>, and the impossibly rich dark chocolate mousse for dessert, which gave me a kick like a double shot of espresso. <\/p>\n Or even the cinnamon rolls at 7VB Caf\u00e9<\/a>, which are big both in size and in cinnamon content. <\/p>\n Lyon may have the culinary reputation, but Marseille brings more to the table. <\/p>\n How to get there<\/strong><\/p>\n Take the Eurostar<\/a> from London to Paris Gare du Nord and an onward TGV (high-speed rail) service from Paris Gare de Lyon to Marseille Saint-Charles (total journey time: roughly seven hours). <\/p>\n Airlines offering flights to Marseille include British Airways<\/a>, easyJet<\/a> and Ryanair<\/a>. <\/p>\n Where to stay<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SEI_268218958.jpg\")
A Tunisian teahouse in downtown Marseille (Photo: iStock\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n\n