Avignon Restaurants

Avignon is a typical French city in that its residents are passionate about food and its restaurants take a great pride in preparing food of the highest quality. Eating venues can be found across the city, with both upmarket haute cuisine establishments and traditional back street affairs favoured by the locals. European restaurants also add to the selection.

Local cuisine

Cuisine in Avignon is typical of that associated with the Provence region, which is in itself very different from what we consider to be traditional French cuisine. Dishes take Mediterranean influences and bring seafood and spices together, while the lack of dairy cattle in the region means food is low in milk content and goat cheese is the main cheese available here. Garlic is of course a predominant feature in the cooking, as are olives and olive oil, while locally grown herbs provide the backbone for the distinctive flavour of many dishes. Pâtes aux coquillages (seafood pasta), poivron farci (stuffed bell pepper), soupe de lentilles Provençale (lentil soup) and tourton du champsaur (stuffed beignet) are among the traditional dishes available in Avignon’s restaurants.

Restaurants

The city centre is the place to head to find an eating establishment of any kind, but is particularly good for reputable upmarket restaurants. Don’t expect food to be cheap; by the time you’ve paid for wine and dessert in a decent place, you’ll easily be looking at a substantial dent in your wallet. If its cheap dining you’re looking for without being low quality, then you need to get off the beaten track and find one of the backstreet venues where the locals eat, where the food is as authentic as it’s likely to get.