Slow cooked tripe served in its cooking juices with potato rosti, La Merenda, Nice

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La Merenda, Nice, lunch

ByQin Xie 22/08/201218/03/2016

Menu from a simple lunch at La Merenda in Nice, France, with food by former Michelin-starred chef Dominique Le Stanc:

Salad of rocket, ricotta cheese, preserved olives, baked figs and honey vinaigrette dressing

Slow cooked tripe served in its cooking juices with potato rosti

Tourte de blettes (swiss chard tart) with icing sugar

Salad of rocket, ricotta cheese, preserved olives, baked figs and honey vinaigrette dressing, La Merenda, Nice

Tourte de blettes (swiss chard tart) with icing sugar, La Merenda, Nice

Everyone talks about La Merenda in Nice. The chef, once a Michelin-starred cook, decided to retire to the south of France to make something more rustic.

The dishes, and other things on the menu, were traditional. The ingredients, simple but lovingly put together.

It’s a really small place and somehow has people queuing out the doors. I, dining alone, ended up sharing a table with a stranger from Paris.

The salad made an easy starter in the heat of the summer. The tripe, rich and sticky on the lips, was a very rich main. And as my first tourte de blettes, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. But I wanted something sweeter, more like a dessert.

Qin Xie

Qin Xie is a London based food, wine and travel journalist and trained chef.

When not infiltrating Michelin restaurants as a kitchen tourist, she writes about food, drink and travel. Her work has appeared on Yahoo, FT, The Times and CNN.

Her first cookbook, co-authored with YS Peng at Hunan Restaurant, is out March 2014.

According to friends, her watch is always set to UTC -- ready for the next big adventure. In reality, she is happiest at the dinner table or by the sea.