Cassis · since 1962
Sixty years on the harbour. Three generations, three hands, one shared wish: that you leave here having truly enjoyed yourself.
Three generations
Act I, The opening
1962On the Quai Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, a restaurant opens its doors under the name « Le Nino Restaurant ». Nino runs it, serves it, defends it. The cooking is simple: what the sea offers, and what friends want to eat.
Cassis is not yet the chic destination of today. The harbour lives to the rhythm of fishermen, colourful boats, trips back and forth to the Calanques. Le Nino Restaurant becomes a landmark, a place you walk into as if it were your own.
The name takes root. Regulars claim their tables. Fishermen drop off the morning's catch. The gesture of filleting whole fish in front of the guest begins here, and never stops.
Act II, The handover
1990His son takes over. The spirit remains, the same cooking, the same welcome, the same gesture. Over time, Le Nino Restaurant becomes what people call an institution: the table you recommend, the one you mention to friends heading down to Provence.
Cassis changes around it. The Calanques become a national park. The harbour fills in summer and empties in winter. Le Nino Restaurant keeps its pace, open year-round, loyal to its regulars and to newcomers alike.
For three decades, the house lives, matures, and recognises itself in the gesture of the knife that lifts the fillet at the table.
Act III, A new chapter
2021Marine takes over the restaurant in April 2021. Not to change it, but to continue it. She renames «Le Nino Restaurant» as «Le Bistrot de Nino», a tribute to the one who started it all, and a promise not to betray what has been bringing people back here for sixty years.
Marine has always loved hospitality. Sharing a taste, opening up a discovery, watching a face light up at the first bite. That's what she wanted to bring to the Bistro: the same honest Mediterranean cooking, with the energy of a new team and the freedom to offer daily specials that step a little off the beaten path.
The upper terrace is enlarged, the shade is improved, the menu tightens around the essentials: the freshest fish of the day, filleted at your table. The rest, the view, the welcome, the rhythm of the harbour, was already here.
Continuity
Cooked à la minute, filleted at your table. A vanishing gesture we wanted to keep.
Panoramic view over the harbour, shaded, opening onto the sea. An intimate setting above the quay.
Mediterranean, following the morning's catch and the seasons. No more, no less.
Marine in the dining room, a team that takes its time. True, simple, generous.
« His name still lives in ours, it's our tribute to the one who started it all. »
Marine
A Cassis institution, the Bistrot has stood here since 1962, keeping alive a harbour tradition of warm welcomes and generous cooking. To discover Cassis and its secrets, browse our tips and news on the blog. Book your table on our terrace above the harbour, the largest in Cassis, and let yourself be won over by our Mediterranean cuisine and its southern flavours.
Good to know
In 1962, Nino opened his restaurant on Quai Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, in Cassis. He ran it, served it and stood by it, with simple cooking: whatever the sea had to offer. The harbour soon made it a landmark, a place where you come as if to a friend's home.
Yes. The house Nino opened in 1962 was taken over by his son, then by Marine in April 2021. Same address on the quay, same gesture of the whole fish filleted at your table, and still Nino's name.
When she took over the house in 2021, Marine renamed Le Nino Restaurant as Le Bistrot de Nino. A tribute to the one who started it all, as she puts it: his name still lives in ours.
Yes, it is one and the same address, at 1 Quai Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, on the harbour of Cassis. The official name is Le Bistrot de Nino, but many guests still look for the house as Nino or Chez Nino, a name inherited from the founder and kept as a tribute when the restaurant was taken over.
At 1 Quai Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, 13260 Cassis, right on the harbour. The raised terrace looks out over the quay, facing the boats and Cap Canaille.
The whole fish cooked to order and filleted at your table, the shaded terrace above the harbour, a short Mediterranean menu that follows the morning catch, and Marine's welcome in the dining room.
Harbour view, fish of the day, Marine's welcome. The rest, we'll tell you in person.