This review is based upon the time when Lionel Lévy worked as the restaurant’s Chef Patron. He has left the restaurant. The fishing boat arrives at the pier just over the street outside the window of Une Table, au Sud. Head Chef and owner Lionel Lévy makes the short walk from his restaurant to collect the catch of the day from his fisherman. It can not be fresher than that!
Lionel Lévy was working as Sous Chef in Paris at Alain Ducasse’s Spoon in the late 1990’s when his former chef and friend, Gérard Garrigues, invited him to Marseilles for a meeting with an investor who was willing to invest money in the young promising chef and a new restaurant. Lionel Lévy was only 26 years old when he was given the confidence of starting up a restaurant in central Marseille. The Head Chef did not know anyone nor did he have any family in the big city so it was a brave move to start up the Une Table, au Sud in 1999.
The Paris born chef developed his skills and his restaurant became more and more a place to be for gourmets and is today a stylish and vibrant venue for all dedicated food lovers. The location in Marseille’s Old Port is perfect and almost all sea food is coming in directly via the port except for the blue lobster that is from Brittany as usual when it comes to French fine dining restaurants.
Karine Turac is doing a brilliant job both as the Restaurant Manager and as the Head Sommelier and around 60 percent of the wine list consists of organic and biodynamical wines. Most of the restaurant’s ingredients are local produce and the aim is always the smallest possible carbon footprint.
Lionel Lévy is a master when it comes to fish and his interpretations of bouillabaisse are fantastic. In one of his signature dishes called Milkshake de bouillabaisse does he manage to get all the rich flavours from the famous sea food soup into one glass, and in another of his great dishes you are served the classic bouillabaisse in a small bowl on your plate, but all the fishes are fried one by one and presented to you separately on your plate. The final result works perfect and Lionel Lévy’s contemporary approach to the famous dish is brilliant.
Une Table, au Sud is a restaurant that can not be missed by any food lover who is in the Marseille area. The sea food is great and combined with a good wine list that dares to take the step from the traditional French wine lists at haute cuisine restaurants, it is a perfect alternative for everyone looking for a contemporary restaurant that has developed and taken a personal step from the traditional.
Written by Andy
