The story
At Belle de Mars in Marseille, the kitchen draws its character from the landscape. The team describes their cooking as “savoureuse, non dénuée de finesse, et souvent émaillée d’herbes et de fleurs sauvages cueillies par nos soins” – a refined yet generous style, punctuated by wild herbs and flowers they pick themselves. This direct connection to the garrigue and coast defines the restaurant’s modern cuisine: seasonal, precise, and unmistakably Provençal.
Belle de Mars earned a Michelin star in 2026, a nod to the kitchen’s consistent quality and originality. The restaurant recently moved to a new address at 180 rue du Rouet in the 8th arrondissement, where it continues to serve lunch and dinner Monday through Friday (closed Wednesday evenings). The dining room is also available for private parties, and vegetarian options are offered.
The carte changes regularly, reflecting what’s at its peak. Guests can choose between a unique menu and a longer tasting menu – both built around the same philosophy of letting ingredients speak, with wild accents woven throughout. The result is a meal that feels both grounded and surprising, anchored in the rhythms of the Mediterranean.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
We knew Belle de Mai, the artsy neighborhood adjacent to the Saint-Charles train station, whose name pays homage to its past glory, and more specifically to the contest in which a lucky girl would be crowned queen with a wreath of white flowers… Now meet Belle de Mars, a rather austere neo-bistro with brand-new parquet flooring, softly iridescent globe light fixtures and utterly nude walls. But from their show-stopping kitchen, Kim-Mai Bui (ex-Petit Nice and Ourea) and Michel Marini (ex-Lasserre and Ze Kitchen Galerie in Paris) serve blind tasting menus that are sharp yet still affordable, as the various courses flow seamlessly into one another. Take the other night as an example: a textural fish soup flan camouflaged under a bouillabaisse espuma, then Mediterranean tuna sashimi caressed by a pickled rose petal for the amuse-bouche; razor-thin slices of radish dipped in an incredible ginger and lemongrass sauce, all topped with bottarga shavings; a duo of warm, plump oysters covered in clementine sabayon; a candy-like al dente porcini mushroom agnolotti with a porcini mushroom mousse; flash-seared Mediterranean little tunny, served with a powerful grey shrimp sauce and seaweed jam; before a graphically pleasing dessert, poached pear hidden under crushed bergamot meringue – an earth-shatteringly good combination! // Meriadec Chouchen
Location
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