A vegan in Cannes - a few tips and recommendations

French people are renowned for their high consumption of white bread and rich red meats and cheeses, and yet when it comes to levels of obesity, Ireland ranks number 21 in the world, and France falls in 10 places behind us at number 31.  The French paradox!

Before travelling to the South of France this year, I was apprehensive about whether their love of meat, fish and cheese would impact on my desire to follow a mostly vegan diet.  I quizzed friends about how to explain to restaurant staff in my pigeon French that I didn’t want meat, fish, cheese or eggs, and I prepared myself for eating a lot of green salads and French fries.  My fears were unfounded!

As with a lot of restaurant menus, in particular ones that offer a “tourist” or set-menu, most options will include either meat or fish and the vegetarian option will generally include cheese.  So my first piece of advice is to find a restaurant with a full à la carte menu.  This will generally mean they have a greater selection of fresh food to choose from. 

After that, don’t be afraid to divert away from the set menu items either.  If you see a dish that takes your fancy, but it includes animal products, ask the waiting staff if the kitchen can accommodate to make it without.  Salads in particular are usually a fairly safe bet – they are put together before serving so really easy to omit something and replace with an alternative vegetable or grain.  Just request the dressing on the side if you don’t know what it is.

Another good tip I found useful was to make the effort to learn how to communicate your needs in simple terms, but in the local language.  It will be noticed and appreciated and especially in France where vegetarian (végétarien) and vegan (végétalien) are very similar words, the ability to say what you want, for example “pas d’fromage/sans fromage” (without cheese) etc., will make ordering easier.  

So if you do happen to be travelling to Cannes in the foreseeable future, this is some of the best places I found:

Riviera Beach - http://www.rivierabeach-cannes.fr/

A beautiful restaurant by day and night, this is literally set right on the beach and at the weekend they literally set up in the sand.  I ordered a salad called the “L’Eclatante Riviera Beach” (this means The Sparkle of Riviera Beach) and it included marinated peppers, tomatoes, artichokes, pickled courgette, mushrooms and a green salad.  It is traditionally served with cheese, but I just requested it without. Beautiful, light, tasty and nutritious.  I would highly recommend this restaurant. 

Sushi Kan - http://www.sushi-kan.fr/

Set away from the main thoroughfare, this little gem is in the heart of Cannes city in a little pedestrian plaza with other restaurants.  The staff were so helpful, and as is typical with Japanese cuisine, it was easy to pick some vegan options from the extensive sushi menu.  Here I had some edamame beans, a seaweed salad, a fabulous cabbage salad (they called it ‘Salade de chou’, which literally means coleslaw but I was assured it had no dairy), and some avocado and cucumber maki rolls.  I almost had to be rolled home myself – the food was divine and there was a wonderful buzz about the plaza at night. 

Villa Azure - http://www.villa-azure.com/

This is located just across the road from the beach, but as the front of the restaurant is completely open, there are amazing views across the water in the evening.  The décor is also beautiful, very French chic with a modern touch.  This meal was probably my most difficult of the holiday as the waiter tried to offer me a few different salads that all included cheese a few times before he understood what it was I wanted. The menu is comprehensive, with lots of fish, meat, burgers and pastas but not much variety for vegans, or even vegetarians for that matter.  I eventually just asked for a green salad with vegetables and I got exactly what I ordered.  Nothing too fancy but some roasted Mediterranean veg and an olive oil dressing.  I enjoyed the surroundings more than the food, but the rest of my party went home with happy bellies full of moules et frites!

Beach Kiosk – Le Scoobie Doo

Scattered along the boardwalk at the beach in Cannes is a number of these food kiosks, rented off the Cannes city council for the summer.  They are small and simply and independently run, and you just order and grab a table if you can or take your food with you.  They generally stock a lot of ice creams, cold drinks, espressos, baguettes, paninis and salads and some are better than others, but they are all extremely reasonably priced.  We ate from one of these called ‘Le Scoobie Doo’, which was closest to where we had positioned ourselves on the beach and I was very pleasantly surprised.  I just asked for a green salad with vegetables, and that is exactly what I got.  But it included lots of lettuce, aubergine, tomato, courgette, pepper and a gorgeous peppery olive oil dressing.  For €6.50, I thought this was exceptionally good value.

Cristal Beach - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cristal-Beach/1611974129018503

This was another restaurant set on the beach, where you can have an aperitif in their gorgeous beach bar, before heading up a few steps to their more comfortable dining area.  The views from this restaurant out to sea and down the coast to Mandelieu are quite literally breath-taking.  The menu is varied with some traditional French cuisine along with some Japanese platters.  I opted for sushi, and had a simple but tasty selection of vegetable maki rolls.  As its not a fully Japanese restaurant, the options were fairly limited but the dishes were tasty all the same.

Caffé Roma - http://www.cafferoma.fr/

This is situation right along the busiest street in Cannes, La Croisette.  A busy and big bar and restaurant, this definitely has a very touristy feel to it.  We went for cocktails and stayed on for dinner and I was taken aback by the variety of food they had on their menu.  For me, this was a really enjoyable meal as it was one of the only cooked meals I had during my holiday, and even in the sun, sometimes we all just need a warm, comforting dinner.  I ordered the vegetarian stir fry, which was actually vegan friendly as it was just a large selection of vegetable strips, cooked in soy sauce.  It came with noodles but I was afraid these may have been egg noodles, so I just took the easy option and requested boiled rice instead.  It wasn’t a problem for them and perhaps if I had asked, the noodles may have been ok too.  Regardless, it was really tasty and filling.  Simple but good food.