La Bagatelle

André Boretti, food & wine critic for Le Provençal newspaper, teacher, local historian & story-teller, is a Pagnolian figure who regards with amused scepticism foreigners’ over-enthusiastic comments about Marseilles. Yet he has himself a deep, if grudging, love for his home town & its inhabitants. And the feeling is mutual; the coquillage vendor in the market offers a fresh sea-urchin to him in passing, he is hailed in the streets with grins & waves from restaurant & café-owners of every nationality. André is highly critical of most Marseilles restaurants: “These days they charge too much for too little. And most of them mangent la grenouille (Marseilles slang for doing something badly) anyway!” But for one young chef, Pierre Bagatelle of the diminutive ‘La Bagatelle’ restaurant, he has nothing but unreserved admiration.