Four Favourite Places to Eat This Summer in Aix

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Four Favourite Places to Eat This Summer in Aix

June 29, 2020 by aixcentric

Here are 4 amazing places for food to carry you through the summer until Aixcentric returns, Susan Gish says:

Aux Pates Fraiches
Au Pave du Roy

and a reminder about Tita & Meow Cat’s Café – both of which have been written about before.

Aux Pâtes Fraîches – Young and dynamic, Pierre-Antoine and Charles were looking for a place to open a food shop here in Aix-en-Provence. They saw Aux Pâtes Fraîches, which some of you might have been to as the shop goes back to 1878. It’s on the street behind the Fontaine au Sanglier off of Place Richelme and the fish market. Charles and Pierre-Antoine thought it immediately felt like home and bought the shop. This all happened just before confinement… They both speak English fluently after living awhile in London. Pierre-Antoine is an architect. He worked on museums projects in London. He is passionate about his work but wanted to fulfill his dream: to open a business related to food. Charles was working in marketing for a French cheese company. ‘We miss speaking English so if you want to come by just to have a chat, please do!’

They make their own pasta in the back, fresh every day. Spaghetti, tagliatelle, ravioli with petit-pois/menthe, spinach/ricotta, gorgonzola/nuts, lemon. Fresh products depending on the season.

I bought their tagliatelle which my husband, ‘Chef’ Sam made for dinner. He minced garlic and sautéed it with those local little green slightly spicy Marseille peppers, and then added chopped cherry tomatoes, some cream and white vermouth. Garnished it with parsley leaves, and topped with some grated grana padano.

The next night we had friends over for apéro a la Aux Pâtes Fraîches: truffle cashews (my tongue had a party in my mouth!), tapenade with figs (delightful), creamy brandade (YUM), small round saucisson piment (available with parmesan or herbes de Provence too).

The Epicerie (the guys call it a Deli) has Italian and French products such as Maison Marc for cornichons (pickles in Deli talk!). I can’t wait to try the Maison Marc velouté d’asperges. ‘We are working with Nadia Sammut (Auberge La Feniere outside of Lourmarin). She is very well known for gluten free products. There’s a full range of Maison Dubernet products who make amazing patés. The products we select don’t use any additives. We prepare charcuterie cold cuts for your aperos and we make our own tapenades, sometimes with figs but always without anchovy.’

As you can hear, the guys are very energetic and passionate about what they do. I watched them with customers and really appreciate their kindness to everyone. The shop is very clean and they wear masks. Oh, they sell beautiful flowers as well!

Go by and say hello. They’re hard working and I wish them success.

Aux Pâtes Fraîches

12 rue Laurent Fauchier 04 42 26 23 74 Tuesday-Saturday 9am-7pm.

Instagram and FB: auxpatesfraiches.aix

Au Pavé du Roy’scard says it all: Artisan Patissier Chocolatier Boulanger Glacier Traiteur. Since discovering this outrageous place, I’ve been twice a week. Have. Got. To. Stop. J’adore everything from this place! It’s our new favorite PCBGT (see above).

Everything is made right there in the back atelier: Chocolat. Pain. Viennoiseries. Salés. Glaces. Pistachio croissant with pistachio creme inside, topped with slivered almonds.

Need I say more? Have you ever had a pistachio almond croissant? I hadn’t.

I get one every time I go in; they’re just amazing.

I don’t like most almond croissants as there is too much sweet frangipane inside. Not with Au Pavé du Roy’s pistachio frangipane. It’s just perfect.

Pain au chocolat with Valrhona chocolate. Uh-huh. (swoon). We’ve fallen in love with the nicely crusty (but not too hard) baguette with the little knob on the end to eat on the way home. It’s called ‘La Parisse’. A sourdough baguette made from very high-quality flour whose recipe was developed by Gaëtan, Paris, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 1997.

If you’re craving dark chocolate chip cookies they have the best I’ve had in France. Some with almonds, some with pecans, there’s even a milk chocolate with noisettes. Sablés Framboises to die for. Gorgeous pastries and citron or pistachio cakes. Whole cakes too that look outrageous. Chocolate cats. Chocolate sheep. This one: ‘Chocolat pâte pistache et pâte fruits griottes, enrobé chocolat noir Valrhona’. Watching some of the chocolate videos on their Instagram is downright decadent…look at their cakes & pastries there as well. Incroyable! @aupaveduroy

Lunch

They take the time to produce an old style quiche. This is difficult to find. Their tarte is twice as high with that creamy, almost but not quite undercooked custard.
Tartelette fleur. I can’t even begin to describe this. It’s sort of like an everything bagel but stuffed with saucisse or jambon and grilled sésame, a mousse of sundried tomatoes, some with feta, cucumber, basil or mushrooms and fromage blanc.
Sam loves their Croque Monsieur, and we had a Salmon Croque Monsieur just yesterday.
They also have gorgeous creative salads with lots of different ingredients rather than just a boring salad. Even their sandwiches and wraps are good.

Au Pavé du Roy is 3rd generation owned by Laurence Campanella. After WWII, Laurence’s grandfather left Italy and opened a bakery in Marseille, then her father took over. In 1974 they moved to Aix and in 1998 Laurence & her husband Eric took over.

Guess what? Laurence invited me to take a tour of l’atelier de fabrication: Can’t wait!

Au Pavé du Roy

04 42 26 22 81 – 9 Cours d’Orbitelle -just next to Hotel Roi René

Open Tues-Sun 7:00am-8:00pm – aupaveduroy on Instagram

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Another shout-out to two places that have been talked about previously on Aixcentric:

Tita This Méditerranean street food café started off as a food truck at the market. We had friends visiting from the US that ate there 3 times in the one week they were visiting. It’s that good. Trip Advisor has it listed as one of the best restaurants in Aix. They moved to their new location which is down the street from Place des Augustins, a few months before confinement. We would get take-out and go to O’Sullivan’s to eat lunch there with a glass of rosé. (How many bars could you bring your own food to in the US?) It’s now more amazingly fresh tasting than ever before. I don’t know how that can be but it is.

I can’t get enough of their falafel. It comes with the absolute BEST grilled aubergine and coleslaw and green sauce and creamy hummus and tomato/red onion salad and rice I’ve ever had. Anywhere. Sam loves their kefta. We both crave their chicken shawarma. The pita bread is shipped in from Israel. Sometimes I want a nice juicy, messy sandwich with falafel spread evenly throughout the sandwich at the bottom too, so every bite has a bit of it in your mouthful. They don’t skimp on the number of falafels they give you, it’s a big sandwich. Then there’s times I’d rather have l’assiette. Sweet Dana and Gael and their other wonderful team members welcome you with open arms! 6 rue des bernardines 04 42 38 93 54 Tuesday-Saturday 11h30-15h & Friday and Saturday also for dinner 18h-21h . Tita on Facebook & tita_aixenprovence on Instagram.

*(Whew! Beware, long run on sentences above!)

Meow Cats Caféjust celebrated their 1 year anniversary before confinement. Morgane’s cat café is a perfect place to relax and hang-out with the 4 house cats and have lunch or a drink. I have to admit that Dexter, the ginger cat with his big expressive eyes, is my favorite to play with. Opium and Olympe are brother and sister and there’s long haired Fripouille who rolls onto his back to show off his belly. Morgane is connected with shelters in the region to try to find families and give love for abandoned cats. They have a really great success rate in getting adoptions for the cats they bring in. Thank you for all you do to get the cats fur-ever homes!

Morgane is also a really good cook. Everything is homemade with love. At the moment, there is a re-invention of the virgin mojito as well as milkshakes and chai latte frappés on the drinks menu. The salads are uniquely layered in ball jars and the wraps are good too. Desserts, though, are really where her passion is. Speculos muffins, cake a l’orange, chocolate pecan cake, cookies…Vegan friendly items as well.

This is a purr-fect place to chill when you are stressed out. Just sit for awhile, have something to eat and/or drink and talk to the cats. You’ll feel better in just a short time! Meow Cat’s Café is always extremely clean and takes all health precautions.

10 rue de la Fonderie – on a back side street close to the Peripherique and Arts & Metiers

09 83 81 18 24 Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm – meowcatscafe on Facebook & Instagram

Have a great summer!

Susan & Chef Sam

Posted in Food | 2 Comments

2 Responses

on July 1, 2020 at 6:48 am | Reply susangish

Please note it is Fanny’s great grandmother, not grandmother, that was also named Fanny. She’s the one that created the chocolate fondant. What a great memory she had growing up with that wonderful smell, as a child growing up!
on March 12, 2022 at 1:52 pm | Reply javier

Thanks for sharing the info. I wish the second place was a restaurant and not just a shop!

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