Chez Pipo, Socca by the Port

A socca house since 1933

At number 13 rue Bavastro, by the Lympia port, there was an artistic ironworks until 1932. The following year, a neighbour known as la Bimba began selling socca there, and in 1940 Joseph Mazzone, Pipo, took over the premises, giving it its name and fame. The house says that in 1945 it was the first in Nice to serve pizza, that his son Laurent ran it until 1986 and that mayor Jacques Médecin was a regular. The oven occupies the site of the old forge, in the middle of the dining room: it is built with stones from the Biot quarry and is among the oldest in the city. From the tables you see how the socca is baked.

Socca is a thin chickpea-flour pancake baked golden, crisp and soft at once. It is eaten with the fingers, piping hot and with a little pepper. It is gluten-free.

What to order

The menu is short and all everyday Niçois cooking. Besides the plain socca, there is socca garnie with spring onion, marinated peppers or aubergines, confit tomatoes or anchovies. For nibbling, tartinades: olive, anchovy or vegetable spreads for toasted bread. The pissaladière is a bread dough with almost confit onion and anchovies. There is fresh tomato pizza, a small pan bagnan, the sandwich with the ingredients of the Niçoise salad, soupe au pistou and, for dessert, the sweet tourte de blettes, a chard pie with apple, pine nuts and raisins.

It is food for sharing and for a short while: it is not a place for a long, lingering meal. A couple of soccas and a pissaladière are enough for two.

How to go and when

Open Wednesday to Sunday, from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 17:30 to 22:00. Closed Monday and Tuesday. No booking: you arrive and wait your turn, inside next to the oven or on the terrace. From Vieux Nice you walk round Castle Hill; tram 2 stops nearby, at Port Lympia. There is booking only for groups, on the website.