Les Arcenaulx

Les Arcenaulx is a bookshop-restaurant at 25 Cours d'Estienne d'Orves in Marseille's 1st arrondissement, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, set in the former arsenal buildings built for Louis XIV's galley fleet just off the Vieux-Port. The restaurant occupies part of the historic building alongside a bookshop, and the combination of shelves, old stonework and a traditional dining room gives it a literary character unusual among the city's restaurants. The cuisine is traditional Provençal, with home-style dishes such as artichauts barigoule (braised artichokes), petits légumes farcis (stuffed vegetables) and pieds et paquets, the Marseille speciality of tripe parcels and sheep's feet. These dishes make the menu a useful introduction to older Marseille cooking that is less commonly served in the harbour-front fish restaurants. Prices are moderate: the tourism listing starts à la carte at EUR 33 (about $38), Gault&Millau gives EUR 33-42 (about $38-48) per person excluding drinks, and the children's menu is EUR 12 (about $14). The atmosphere is calm and civilised, with a quiet buzz of conversation at lunch, smart-casual dress and a clientele of local regulars, book lovers and visitors. The wine list focuses on Provence and the Rhône, with regional rosé and white wines suited to the vegetable-based dishes. According to the listing, the restaurant serves lunch from 12:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 19:30 to 22:30, and is closed on Sunday; the tourism listing also mentions a Wednesday closure, so confirmation by phone is advisable. Reservation is recommended, especially at lunch on weekdays, and the number is +33 4 91 59 80 30, an aggregator number that should be verified when calling. The ground-floor entrance on the Cours d'Estienne d'Orves is a short walk from the Vieux-Port, so a visit combines easily with the harbour, the Opéra and the shops of the surrounding streets. Browsing the bookshop before or after the meal is part of the visit.