Marseille eats like a port city should: Provençal, Corsican, Armenian and Maghrebi at once. Three days of fish soup with rouille, fried panisses, navettes from a 1781 bakery, and pastis poured six-to-one at the water's edge.
Marseille's largest daily market runs roughly 800 m down the Prado's central alley, Tue–Sun 08:00–13:00. Producers sell Cavaillon melons, Nyons olives, banon goat cheese in chestnut leaves, and vats of tapenade. Cash preferred at the smaller stalls.
A no-sign pizzeria on Rue de Lorette with a wood oven, sawdust-dry rosé and the half-moitié-moitié pizza (anchovy and emmental) that defined Marseillais pizza. Cash only, no reservations, no menu — the waiter recites it. Lunch service from 12:00.
Marseille's oldest bakery, working since 1781 beside Abbaye Saint-Victor. The navette is a hard orange-blossom biscuit shaped like a boat, baked in the original oven and sold by the dozen in paper sleeves. Open daily from 09:00.
The Noailles streets around Rue du Marché des Capucins are Marseille's North African larder — mint by the armful, harissa, preserved lemons, dates. Saladin on Rue Longue-des-Capucins has sold loose spices and herbal teas since 1958.
Beyond the tourist quay, the fishmongers along the Quai du Port sell the rascasse, saint-pierre, congre and vive that make a legitimate bouillabaisse. Vendors will explain which species the charter requires. Trade winds down by 11:00.
Opposite Plage des Catalans since 1946, serving bouillabaisse in two services: the broth with rouille, croutons and grated gruyère first, then the whole fish filleted at the table. Booking is essential, often days ahead.
Tunisian counter cooking in the heart of Noailles: brik à l'œuf, lablabi chickpea broth, and grilled merguez sandwiches served fast and cheap. Open through the afternoon when most French kitchens close between services.
A cave à manger stocking several hundred natural and biodynamic bottles — Bandol reds, Cassis whites, Provençal orange wines — drinkable on site for shop price plus a small corkage, with charcuterie and cheese plates until late.
The fishing village at Marseille's northern edge invented the panisse — a chickpea-flour fritter fried and salted — sold alongside sugar-dusted chichis frégis from wooden kiosks on the Plage de l'Estaque promenade. Reached on bus 35 or the ferry boat.
A pocket-sized fishing cove under the Corniche viaduct, packed with painted boats and two institutions: pizza and moules at Chez Jeannot, Michelin-starred seafood at L'Épuisette. Terrace tables sit a metre above the water.
France's oldest hardware shop (1827) on Rue des Récolettes sells copper pots, Provençal olivewood boards and cast-iron poêles for fish. Uphill, Cours Julien holds roasters, chocolatiers and épiceries between the murals.
A first-floor 1920s bar above the Hôtel Bellevue with a wood-panelled room, a small balcony over the harbour, and pastis poured with a carafe of water and ice to dilute yourself — five or six parts water to one of pastis.