U Cavagnetu

This restaurant in the old town has a reputation for serving local Monegasque specialties. It is inexpensive, with a set two course lunch €16.50 (£14) and main courses around €18. There are a few seats outside in good weather, which in this part of the world is pretty frequent. We sat outside on a sunny day at the end of November.

A plate of local specialties comprised barbajuan, which are essentially ravioli with spinach and ricotta, pissaladiere, which is a sort of mini pizza with an olive topping (the base is often more tart-like than a pizza, but can be made with either puff pastry or a pizza base too), as well as fried courgette and a basic green salad. There was also a little chard pie, sweet peppers, omelette, and stuffed courgette. 

These were of mixed standard. The passaladiere was quite pleasant, the courgettes and chard pie were fine but the barbajuan was soggy, a far cry from the delightful little parcels of flavour that the best of this breed can be. Service was good, with a waiter that spoke excellent English, though as often in this part of the world, actually getting the bill was a tortuous affair involving multiple requests. Overall this was a harmless enough place for a simple meal, but you should have modest expectations, The bill, with water to drink plus coffee afterwards, came to €22 (£19) a head. If you had three courses and a coffee and shared a simple bottle of wine then a typical cost per head might be around €65 (£55), a price that would barely buy you a club sandwich and a drink or two at one of Monaco's flashy hotels.