Indyana restaurant – Review by Dennis Broadfield

Indyana is a quality restaurant off the tourist trail, populated, especially at lunch, by local lawyers, stylish businessmen and women, and chic fashonista’s trying to make an impression. In many other restaurants this melange would spell style-over-substance, with a predictably self-conscience menu, but not here. I have regularly visited Indyana (about a dozen times over the last 4 years) and I have never had a bad meal yet.

This is a classy joint with a brigade of friendly and professional wait staff, who know their stuff. The kitchen is confident in its skills and departs from the predictable with a consistency that delights. I do like to go to restaurants that produce food that I could not possibly copy.

My last visit was a typical highlight; I started with a tartar of scallops in a very thin pastry cup surrounded by miniature raw artichokes, drizzled with balsamic and a touch of truffle oil (19 euros). My companion (a rather esoteric, and stylish television executive from London) started with a selection of Nems, the Vietnamese staple of prawns, squeaky fresh coriander and vegetables, rolled into a thin pastry sheet and deep fried, served with a piquant sauce (10 euros). You can buy these everywhere in France, a legacy of the countries imperial ambitions in South East Asia, but at Indyana they have turned them into an art form.

I followed this with a Marmite du Pecheur (21 euros). Once again another French staple of fish poached in stock and finished with crème fraiche. The Indiana version included three different kinds of fish, mussels, tiny potatoes and spring onions all poached in white wine and then finished with a touch of cream. Sublime. My companion had lobster pasta (24 euros), something that looked quite anodyne on the menu, but on delivery to the table was a tour de force. A half a lobster still in its slightly charred carapace, cooked to perfection (in other words not over cooked) with a substantial pile of aldente pasta on the side, finished off with a sublime lobster sauce. We shared a bottle of premier cru Chablis (62 euros) that matched our seafood extravaganza perfectly. Sadly there was no room for dessert, but time enough to take in our surroundings.

The room is modern-elegant with comfortable chairs and tables spaced well apart, probably for lawyers to discuss their secrets without being overheard. This place has a wonderful warm feeling about it, comfortable and classy but not pretentious. If you want to escape from the daily Nicoise menu of Pizza, Salad Nicoise, Pasta and Daube this place will delight and surprise you. I am not a big dessert person, but you have to try the puddings at Indiana, they are fantastic and beautifully presented. Art on a plate that tastes first-rate. I love this place for those times I want to spoil myself with refined food in an elegant environment without having to put up with snooty waiters.

Indiana Restaurant
11 Rue Gustave Deloye
Nice, 06000
Phone +33 (0)4 93 80 67 69
3 minute walk from the Place Messena and five minutes from the Old Town.