At the La Relève bar in Marseille, “this cosmopolitan aioli is pure joy, the experience of frank and unfussy cuisine”

En about ten years, this former neighborhood harbor has become an institution of the 7^e district of Marseille, in full gentrification. On sunny days, people flock to the long terrace with around thirty tables that extends onto the sidewalk.

With its natural wine list, its casually efficient waiters and its old vintage sign in red letters, the La Relève bar attracts a clientele of regulars up to date with trends. It must be said that the owners, the two Gregs – Grégoire Hessmann and Grégory Mandonato – are local figures, already at the helm of the Café de l’Abbaye, located 200 meters away, renowned for its view of the port and its atmospheric aperitifs.

In 2013, Grégoire Hessmann bought this bar, which was once frequented by card players and bowlers from the nearby pétanque club. His long-time sidekick, Grégory Mandonato, joined him in 2018 and quickly moved behind the stove. This native of Marseille grew up across the street, in the Saint-Victor bakery and pastry shop – which later added a catering section – founded by his grandparents and where he worked for nearly twenty years.

From his Corsican and Italian origins, Grégory Mandonato has kept a family culinary heritage. “My grandparents ate pasta every day while my mother excelled in Provençal specialties: pieds paquet, pistou soup, artichokes barigoule style…”

Creamy, smooth

He likes to enhance his recipes with spices from the Mediterranean basin: chilli, paprika, sumac or ras el-hanout… And for lunch, on Friday, fish day, he tackles a monument of Marseille gastronomy: aioli. A sauce, composed of an egg and garlic, sometimes mustard, whipped with oil – here a mixture of olive and sunflower. Grégory likes it creamy, smooth, and adds a pinch of paprika and turmeric which gives it a slightly pink tint. Everything, then, is in the dosage of garlic, which comes to wake up the fine flesh of a cod or a meagre without overpowering it.

The fish, purchased directly from Jeannot de Cantelarun, a fisherman in the port, is cooked in a broth of white wine, saffron, turmeric and garlic, then served with a juice with Thai accents flavored with lemongrass and lemon leaves. Details that make the difference and give this piece of heritage a cosmopolitan touch. The vegetables, from the Cours Julien farmers’ market, are blanched before being roasted in the oven at 230°C to burn them slightly.

Depending on the season, the plate is made up of carrots and green beans, cauliflower and sweet potatoes or aubergines and zucchinis when summer comes. Accompanied by the natural sourdough bread from the very famous Maison Saint-Honoré, a little further down the rue d’Endoume, it is pure bliss. The experience of straightforward, no-nonsense cuisine, which makes you want to come back to taste the pasta of the day, at the top of the list the calamarata – ring-shaped pasta – with beetroot, mascarpone, garlic and preserved lemon.