French Restaurant Review: Hèita, Nîmes

For a truly international dining experience, Hèita in Nîmers delivers tasty, cosmopolitan dishes with impeccable and friendly service.

Still surprisingly under the radar given its beauty and remarkable Roman ruins, the southern city of Nimes has also recently developed an intriguing restaurant scene that says a lot about how the French want to eat today. To wit, France is increasingly developing the sort of hyphenated kitchens well known in Britain Anglo-Indian, for example and America, including Italian-American, Tex-Mex and dozens of others.

A perfect example of this gastronomic cross-fertilisation is found at Hèita, a delightful restaurant run by the Franco-Vietnamese Nguyen sisters, Nha and Nhat. The siblings took over the Vietnamese restaurant their parents had run for 28 years this summer and placed Algerian-born chef Faycal Benhabiles, Nhat’s boyfriend, in the kitchen to prepare an eclectic, cosmopolitan menu that was an immediate hit with the locals. It changes often, but one dish that never goes away is the delicious laap, a Laotian salad of crunchy rice, beef, crudités and fresh herbs.

Other dishes that speak to the intentionally international identity of this lively and very good restaurant include fried aubergine on a bed of smoked Feta, a great smashburger, tuna steak with pepper relish, kebabs and more.

Working across such a range of different kitchens, Benhabiles impressively delivers, and the service from the Nguyens – the sisters and their parents – is charming. Heita offers excellent value for money but remember, reservations are essential.

27 rue de l’Étoile, Nîmes,

Tel. (33) 06 61 23 37 51

From France Today Magazine