Certain fish are "de rigueur" for true bouillabaisse....the Bouillabaisse Charter Members of Marseille established it!
However, our vote for best bouillabaisse goes to Aimé Bergero, a non-Charter member.
Bouillabaisse is one of the most famous Provençal dishes. The dish was invented by fishermen sorting their catch for sale. They would set certain fish aside for themselves and their families. Over the years this simple family dish has become more sophisticated and may now include a sauce to bind the ingredients together and some versions even include seafood. Bouillabaisse is normally served as two different dishes: the fish on a plate and the broth in a chafing dish. There is, however, one golden rule: the fish must be cut and served in front of the diners. Boullabaisse is served with rouille (a sauce made with garlic, pimentos, olive oil and a little of the broth) or aïoli (garlic mayonnaise). Garlic croutons may also be served.
The correct fish for Bouillabaisse:
Rascasse (scorpion fish) or its cousin chapon; galinette (gurnard), grondin (red gurnet) and congre (conger eel for body) and vive (weever fish) that provides a mellowness of flavor.
A few Bouillabaise Charter Restaurants:
Le Rhul
269B Corniche John F. Kennedy
13007 Marseille
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / Bouches-du-Rhône
+(04)-91-52-01-77
Le Miramar
12 Quai du Port
13007 Marseille
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / Bouches-du-Rhône
+(04)-91-91-10-40
Chez Fonfon
140, Vallon des Auffes
13007 Marseille
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / Bouches-du-Rhône
+(04)- 91 52 14 38
Charlot
Freres Blanc
12, place Clichy
75018 Paris
Ile-de-France
+(01)- 53 20 48 00
La Réserve
Avenue Libération, Route de Sanary
83150 Bandol
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / Var
+(04)-94-29-30-00
A non-charter member worth seeking:
Tiboulen de Maïre
Calanque Blanche, Route des Goudes
13008 Marseille
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / Bouches-du-Rhône
+(04)- 91 25 26 30
Proprietor /chef: Aimé Bergero
Aimé serves only up to 10 varieties of grilled fish he has personally chosen that morning.
Located in a small dry stone-built house between sea and the hill, you will be greeted by the wily Aimé Bergero who serves “only fish caught by trawl line and nothing other",
They are bought the morning (Aimé spends his days in his motorboat touring Marseille’s fishing villages buying the best line-caught fish), and rolled in "sel de Guérande" (from Normandy) salt and cooked on the embers of a lava rock grill. When there is no more fish left, he closes until the following day!
If you leave a contact number, Aimé will call you when fishing is good to announce the evening when he makes his bouillabaisse. Unforgettable!
The essential points about fish according to Aimé: where it is caught; how it is caught and when it is caught matters at least as much as how it is cooked in determining how it will taste.
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