Pure & V – Vanessa Massé, excellent restaurant in Nice

Pure & V is a small, yet perfectly formed restaurant in Nice. Here, Vanessa Massé oversees the front of house while head chef Pinja Paakkonen brings her experience gained in Finland and Copenhagen to the kitchen.

This story is the result of a visit some years ago when Pure & V was in a different location. We are hoping to revisit this restaurant in 2024 to enjoy the new location and also visit the now upstairs Pure & Vins as well.

As well as ensuring that guests are greeted warmly, Vanessa Massé has assembled one of the best natural wine lists in the country to accompany the delectable food that comes out of the kitchen using ingredients that are organic and locally sourced. The two meals we had here recently were both excellent!

It nails the combination we are always hunting for of excellent locally-sourced ingredients from around Nice, clever cooking (with technique often disguised by the apparent simplicity of the presentation (except the chocolate dessert that flaunts it)).

As an aside, our planned were stymied by a combination of COVID restrictions and then subsequent sickness, however we are now anxious to head back to Nice which is one of our favourite food cities. We are craving the food of a varied selection of restaurants in Nice including La Merenda (which serves authentic Nicoise cuisine), Le Canon (where the produce is of the highest quality including the super-fresh fish that often graces the menu), Pure & V (for the food, the service and for Vanessa’s amazing selection of natural wines), La Part des Anges (for the relaxed atmosphere and the natural wine selection) and maybe a trip to nearby Cap d’Antibes if Maison de Bacon are still doing the bouillabaisse that we enjoyed so much many years ago.

Here are some highlights from two meals in two days.

Both meals started with with greens beans coated with a tempura batter and accompanied by a stunning, vibrant green, shiso emulsion made from shiso oil. The emulsion was topped with very fresh shiso leaves. This was an incredibly light yet flavoursome dish that was a perfect start to the meal.

This was a delicious dish with veal tartare, tomato and croutons sitting on a shiso emulsion. The combination of flavours was extraordinary.

The smoked mackerel was topped with some delicious, fresh leaves that accompanied the fish perfectly.

Sometimes a dish and a wine just sing! This was certainly the case with the ravioli, an incredible sauce, the fried sage leaves and, of course, the Dédée from one of the master winemakers of the Jura.

This fish shown above was caught locally (we didn’t remember the name) but it was cooked to a lovely crispness on the outside and was meltingly tender on the inside.

This dish was quite extraordinary with the pork being meltingly tender and delicious the pumpkin cooked perfectly and the langoustine sauce bringing the elements together.

The finish for our second meal a nod to the homeland of the chef (Denmark) with a delicious slice of marzipan and a chocolate covered meringue.

We also need to talk about the incredible wine selection that Vanessa Massé has put together. She has assembled a tour de force of the natural wine movement’s leading producers.

Many of the choices are relatively obscure so simply discuss with her the style of wine you prefer and she will find something that matches your taste and that will match the food for the evening.

The lineup that Vanessa Massé has put together includes champagne from Ulysse Collin, the Festejar rosé from Auvergne producer Patrick Boujou with which we always start our sojourns at the iconic Auberge de Chassignolles on our many visits there, a number of offerings from Loire superstar Jean-Pierre Robinot, the very rare Jura wines of Charles Dagand, wines from Tom Shobbrook from South Australia and the sought-after orange wines of Jean-Yves Péron, to name but a few from this clever list.

We are very much looking forward to our next visit to Vanessa Massé and Nice and the treasures hidden there!

You can read more about this remarkable restaurant and Vanessa Massé by clicking on the link below:

Pure & V Restaurant, Nice

We have included this restaurant in our story about restaurants to visit outside Paris including Vanessa Massé and Pure & V which you can read here.