Nice, the High Tables
Nice has quietly become a serious gastronomic city, with a cluster of stars that punch above the Riviera's beach-town reputation. The high tables here divide between the established two-star benchmark and a wave of single-chef rooms cooking ambitious, personal menus. We list only what we can stand behind by name; one notable omission is worth flagging below so you can plan around it.
The Starred Benchmarks
The Michelin rooms that anchor Nice's fine-dining reputation, from two stars down.
- 01
The Tourteaux brothers' two-Michelin-star kitchen in Carabacel, built on a travel-cuisine idea that runs Mediterranean roots through Caribbean and far-flung influences. It is the city's reference high table and the most ambitious cooking in Nice. Book well ahead for the tasting menu; this is the destination dinner of a Nice trip.
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Virginie Basselot's one-star Mediterranean haute cuisine inside the Negresco, served in a room as grand as the address. The cooking is classical, precise and unmistakably special-occasion. For the full belle-époque set-piece dinner, nothing else in the city quite matches it.
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South African chef Jan Hendrik's intimate one-star room on the old port, where a single Franco-South-African menu unfolds course by course. The scale is small and the cooking deeply personal. One of the most distinctive starred experiences on the Riviera.
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Sélim M'Nasri's one-star, spice-route table behind Port Lympia, a tasting menu that travels without losing its anchor. The cooking is adventurous and assured, aimed at diners who want to be surprised. A serious, contemporary star away from the seafront.
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The Chef-Driven Rooms
Ambitious single-chef kitchens and one more star, where personal vision sets the menu.
- 01
An Italo-Argentine couple's one-star room in the antiques quarter, cooking a personal, precise tasting menu with a thoughtful wine pairing. The room is intimate and the ambition is real. A starred dinner that feels like the chefs' own table rather than a showroom.
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One-star creativity from chef Samuel Victori in Carabacel, where the tasting menu leans into invention without losing discipline. It is the kind of room that rewards diners who like a kitchen to take risks. A confident chef-driven star a little off the tourist grid.
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Michelin-listed modern Riviera cooking near Masséna, a step below the starred rooms but firmly in the high-table conversation. The menu is contemporary and the setting central, useful when the stars are fully booked. A reliable high-end choice in the heart of the city.
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The order above is roughly how we would prioritise a single serious dinner in Nice, starting at the top with Flaveur and the two-star benchmark, then the chef-driven one-star rooms by mood rather than rank. Reserve weeks ahead for any of them; the good tables here no longer go begging.