The story
Les Plaisirs is a bistro at 2 rue Puada-dau-Gourguet in the hilltop village of Peillon, a short drive from Nice. Chef-owner Romain Clavel earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026 for good-quality, good-value cooking, and the restaurant serves lunch every day except Wednesday.
Much of the produce grows in the restaurant's own garden behind the village, so beans, peas, early potatoes and courgettes are often picked shortly before service. Clavel trained classically, with stints at the Hôtel Hermitage in Monaco and the Mandarin Oriental in London. He bakes the bread from his own sourdough starters and makes the charcuterie in-house, which guests can buy to take home.
The dining room sits up a flight of steps from the village square, with small windows onto the valley, a fireplace and wood-and-stone walls. Le Fooding described a lunch of sourdough topped with tomatoes and spring onions, a crisp pissaladière, slow-cooked beef fillet, and a seasonal fruit tart on shortbread. The two-course menu is priced at 28 euros and the three-course at 38 euros.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
good quality, good value cooking
In 2010, a 21-year-old Romain Clavel, the grandson of Aimée Millo (the former chef at the Auberge de La Madone) and Bernard Clavel (winner of the Prix Goncourt in the 1960s), opened a bistro in the former home of Claude Brasseur and Catherine Sauvage, tucked away in the picturesque fortified village of Peillon. Forteen years later, the classically trained chef (who did stints at the Hôtel Hermitage in Monaco and the Mandarin Oriental in London) continues to delight diners at his restaurant done up with wood, stone and exposed rafters, with its priceless views of the valley below. The day we went for lunch, sent out from the tiny kitchen and served by Marie-José, Romain’s mom, there was all of the following: incredibly simple yet delicious homemade sourdough topped with tomatoes, spring onions and translucent pancetta; top-notch and perfectly crispy pissaladière, or tender eggplant with homemade sausage; slow-cooked beef fillet or pork chops from Breil-sur-Roya, served with a medley of slow-roasted vegetables and incredible gratin dauphinois potatoes; before a perfectly made seasonal fruit tart with a shortbread crust and a strawberry and apricot topping. // Lenny Vega
Location
Facebook
Instagram