Restaurants in Avignon

Restaurant Christian Etienne

The eponymous chef here, a Maître Cuisinier de France (Master Chef of France), specialises in seafood and game. The set menu at lunchtime is very good value, but rarely as ambitious as the more expensive menus on offer. The restaurant is in an enviable location next to the Palais des Papes.

La Mirande

Set in the La Salle Cardinalice dining room of the La Mirande hotel, this restaurant continues to set the standard for haute cuisine in Avignon. Classic French cooking with a modern twist, plates always have local Provence and Languedoc touches and are served in an atmosphere of old-fashioned elegance and style.

La Fourchette

This well-established restaurant offers a varied and accomplished menu prepared by Philippe Hiély. La Fourchette is popular for classic French fare and traditional Provençal dishes such as beef daube (slow-cooked stew). Decor is attractive and simple, with plenty of polished wood. Closed weekends.

Fou de Fafa

An intimate little restaurant run by a British couple (the husband cooks, the wife is front of house), Fou de Fafa has a fresh take on classic French cuisine with some exotic touches. It’s tiny and is open only in the evenings, so make certain you book ahead.

Le Jardin de la Tour

This is an excellent restaurant run by Jean-Marc Larrue, an experienced and creative chef who also offers cookery courses here. The decor is cheerfully red, and the cuisine is in classic French style, emphasising the best of Provence – sometimes slipping over the border into Italy. Its bouillabaisse is a speciality.

83 Vernet

Housed in a 14th-century cloister, this slick gastronomic courtyard restaurant is magically set among the old stones and shade, with a convivial bar-lounge at the entrance. Chefs Florent de Brunelis and Damian Chocano bring quality, elegance and finesse to imaginative French-based fusion cuisine.

Le Petit Comptoir

You’ll need either luck or a decent sense of direction to find Le Petit Comptoir (The Little Counter), buried deep among Avignon’s ancient lanes. But once you stumble over the place, preferably onto its outside terrace, you’ll be leaving a trail of breadcrumbs from its handsomely sized burgers just so you can find your way back again.

Restaurant l’Agape

The innovative mix of French and Provençal cuisine fits the industrial chic interior of this classy restaurant in Place des Corps-Saints. The lunch menu is particularly good value with seasonal dishes that could include pan-fried red mullet with artichoke purée or saddle of lamb with fritters of courgette flowers.

Ginette & Marcel

This quirky, friendly café in Places des Corps-Saints is decked out like an old-fashioned French épicerie with colourful tables spilling out under the plane trees of the square. This is the place for simple yet tasty lunches of tartines (toasted country bread with a range of toppings).