Koko Green ★ 4.5
Why locals love it: Open only Friday to Sunday lunch service, weekly changing menu and a small Vieux Nice room locals book a week ahead.
Tip: Reserve by Wednesday for the weekend menu; bookings fill up the same day they open.
La Merenda in Vieux Nice runs Dominique Le Stanc's bench seat Nissard kitchen on Rue Raoul Bosio, the chef who walked away from a Michelin star at the Negresco to cook the city's grandmother dishes.
Why locals love it: No telephone, cash only, two sittings, books in person at the door earlier the same day for the lunch service in Vieux Nice.
Tip: Arrive in person at 11:00 or 18:00 to write your name on the booking sheet for the same day's service.
Address: 4 Rue Raoul Bosio, 06300 Nice
Why locals love it: Open only Friday to Sunday lunch service, weekly changing menu and a small Vieux Nice room locals book a week ahead.
Tip: Reserve by Wednesday for the weekend menu; bookings fill up the same day they open.
Why locals love it: Bellet wine bar with the world petits farcis championship, four generations of Gazan family running the Vieux Nice room since 1947.
Tip: Champ runs every autumn at the granite counter; book a stool the same morning.
Why locals love it: One of only three Nice addresses still firing socca in a 1867 wood burning oven, weekday morning stall on Cours Saleya.
Tip: Arrive at the Cours Saleya stall by 09:00; the kitchen runs the wood oven hot at 300C between 06:00 and 13:00.
Why locals love it: Family Nicois room on Rue Droite since the close of the First World War, four generations and a single lunch sitting under the family name.
Tip: Book by phone several days ahead for the lunch service; closed Saturday and Sunday.
Why locals love it: Armand Crespo's stand-up ceviche counter on Rue de l'Opera, no reservations and morning catch from the Cours Saleya fish market.
Tip: Arrive by 12:30 or 19:30 to land a stool; tapas from EUR 7 and mains at EUR 25.
Why locals love it: The Loubert brothers' natural wine and tapas bar on Rue du Pont Vieux in Vieux Nice, a quiet alternative for a second drink off the busy Cours Saleya.
Tip: Open after dinner from 21:00; the natural list rotates every week and runs deep on small producers.