Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Another summer is beginning in Marseille. Heat, rocks, panisse. Packs of Vogue cigarettes and bottles of orange wine, all emptied. Last year, every young urban professional came and lived their hot summer dreams on the squares of the Mediterranean port city. And everybody ate. For this specific demographic, gastro experiences are becoming more and more of an identity marker. Marseille is currently exploding with new restaurants run by young talented chefs and maîtres. And so the visitors of this city, armed with a digital list made by friends with culinary authority, spend their days crossing off must-have meals as if it was their holy duty.
I came to Marseille to work as a sommelier in a place that scored well on these lists. At the restaurant, people would arrive, be seated and, before I could even offer them a bottle of water, they were holding their phones in my face, showing me a picture of our signature dessert. “Is this still on the menu?” “Yes, it is.” The crowds went wild.
“I just noticed that I was walking from pin to pin,” a friend recently told me about her time in Paris. “The first morning I could not immediately find a nice spot for breakfast, and I got hungry and irritated, and then I opened my friends’ list in Maps and I had over 20 places to pick from. I checked reviews, got directions and off I went.” Was it fun? I asked her. She said it was stressful. By cutting out the friction of searching, you also cut out the joy of wandering and the reward of a surprise. While this rule is not geo specific, I’ve noticed that in Marseille especially good surprises abound.
On the phone list: small plates and modern twists on classics. Probably a very nice flat white. Maybe an expensive bouillabaisse. Not on the list: the Syrian restaurant that offers you a bowl of the most warming cumin soup before your meal; the cave à vin that hosts apéro on Wednesdays; the Turkish restaurant where the wood-fired oven and barbecue glow from noon to midnight; the canteen that serves two daily lunch meals for €7 and keeps a tally of meals bought for those who cannot afford that.
I can’t speak about the city from the place of an inhabitant, but by now I consider myself a pretty experienced visitor. My advice for others? Please put away your phone. I am sure in this world there exist certain bleak culinary regions where the fear of a bad meal is justified. In Marseille, a city overflowing with great local produce and international cuisines, this is not the case. People from all over the world have settled in what is called “the city of outsiders”. More often than not, the best restaurants are found by strolling rather than scrolling.
There is indeed a trendy restaurant scene in Marseille, maybe more fresh and new than in any other European city right now. But the best thing is these places blend into the richest grid of establishments that have seemingly been there forever, where people love to eat, drink and talk, and are happy for you to join. This is the south of France after all.
Find out about our latest stories first — follow FT Weekend Magazine on X and FT Weekend on Instagram
