Corsican ballads played on the speakers of the Le Caribou’s brightly colored dining room as we sat down for a six or seven course meal (I lost count after a few glasses of vin blanc). Our host, a somewhat portly gentleman (read: six or seven courses…), proudly sported a bright-pink dress shirt and a welcoming smile.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it mille times, I love the French. All jokes aside, isn’t it fantastic that French men feel confident enough to wear pink? and more importantly, isn’t it wonderful to be treated like kings & queens for a meal out? That’s not just the service we got at Le Caribou… that’s finding a good restaurant in France.
Admittedly, I got a little lost along the way. Actually, it was more like at the very beginning when trying to decifer the menu options. We stuck with the classic, all-encompassing favorite: le Menu Traditional… which, among other things, promised a Tian au fenouil de l’Imam-Bayaldi.
This of course was fantastic, like all of the other small plates that mysteriously appeared from points west, north, & east, but besides fennel, I had an awfully hard time explaining the l’Imam-Bayaldi part.
So, if the pink-shirt part didn’t grab ya, let’s just say that the folks at Le Caribou have a way of cooking that’s left up to the whims of the season and the fresh fish on offer along the Vieux Port. They also operate another hotel/restaurant in Corsica and the Marseille “branch” has been around since 1945. Well, it looks like no one’s complaining – Imam-Bayaldi and all.
You could have pushed me over with a toothpick (or at least a very thick bookmark) by the time the dessert arrived, but, luckily, I rallied around this gorgeous piece of Vacherin – chantilly cream, vanilla ice cream, and meringue topped with chocolate & nuts. Umm chantilly & chocolate? I’m easy.
Le Caribou, Marseille
38 Place Thiars, 13001 Marseille
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