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A goumet's exploration of Nice, France

Everyone's heard of Salad Nicoise. It now turns up with a variety of ingredients on Nice restaurant menus everywhere. It may be the most famous local dish in Nice, France but there's much more to the local specialist cuisine. Fortunately, many Nice restaurants and cafes, particularly in the old town, offer local dishes which are well worth seeking out.

The phrase 'a la nicoise' usually means olives, chopped tomatoes, green beans, anchovies and garlic will be included in the dish. You'll find various fish 'a la nicoise' and in addition to the normal suspects, you could well see anchovy butter on the plate in any Nice restaurant. Red meats and poultry also come 'a la nicoise' with the tomatoes, beans etc stewed in oil with garlic.

'Farcis' are often seen on Nice restaurant menus. This isn't the Perigord dish of forcemeat stuffed into cabbage. It can be peppers, artichokes, aubergine, cougette, tomatoes, indeed any vegetable capable of being stuffed, each vegetable having its own type of stuffing.

In Nice itself, a number of rules apply with Salad Nicoise - never add potatoes or cooked vegetables. You can get either anchovies or tuna, or possibly both, and fresh fava beans or artichokes; other than that, it's nearly always tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, local olives, hard-boiled egg, garlic, basil and olive oil.

One salad you'll see everywhere in Nice restaurants and local markets is Mesclun. Its ingredients grow on the hills overlooking the city and it is hugely popular, with the added bonus of being healthy. The word is derived from the local Nice dialect word 'mescla', meaning 'to mix'.

Mesclun is made up of a mixture of arugula, a peppery salad leaf and often gathered wild; young dandelion; a variety of small young lettuce leaves such as romaine and oak leaf; possibly flat-leaf parsley; chervil; purslane; radicchio; endive and watercress, all of which have grown wild in the area but are now widely cultivated.

The traditional early morning start for generations of local workers in Nice has been Socca. It's made out of chickpea flour, which is fried in olive oil and served with sugar. You'll often find it served on the street-side. The chickpea porridge made from the flour can also be used to fill a tart.

Anchovies feature in many dishes in Nice restaurants. As well as the ubiquitous salad, you'll find 'pissaladiere', a local speciality. It's a flan filled with anchovies, onions and small local black olives. It can be eaten hot or cold and can be made either with a bread dough or shortcrust pastry. There are very precise local 'rules' on the thickness of the onion layer depending on the pastry used.

Pissalat, a puree of anchovies in brine with spices, herbs and olive oil, is often spread on the pissaladiere before cooking as well as being used as a seasoning for a variety of dishes including fish and cold meats. Pan-bagnat, a sandwich of onion, celery, olives and, naturally, anchovies is also found everywhere and again pissalat may be spread on it.

Provencal dishes will be seen everywhere in Nice restaurants, as will Italian favourites. Indeed it can seem in some parts of town that pizza and pasta are the basic local cuisine. Pistou, a vegetable soup, is very popular. The sauce added to the soup is made of basil, cheese, olive oil and garlic. It is, of course, closely related the pesto found along the coast in Liguria around the Italian city of Genoa.

On a city break in Nice, France, it's very worthwhile exploring Nicoise cuisine. Listen carefully and you may also pick up the local Nicoise dialect. Yes, the food is closely related to Provencal cooking but it does have a distinct Italian twist. It's packed full of flavour - hardly surprising with anchovies such a local favourite - and seems just right when eaten in the many splendid restaurants at the heart of Nice.