Dining in Carthage by the sea
In Carthage, a sea view has to be climbed for. Down at the water the coast is low and built over, with scarcely a gap in it, so the tables that really do look out across the bay sit higher up: on Byrsa, or along the ridge that runs towards Sidi Bou Saïd.
Blame the geography. It is also why so few restaurants here have a view worth the name.
The essentials
- Lunch
- Noon to 3pm
- Dinner
- Rarely before 7.30pm, 9pm in summer
- Book ahead
- May to September, weekends, any terrace table
- Sunset
- 7.45pm in June, just after 5pm in December
What “sea view” actually means
Ask one thing before you book: is the view from your table, or only from the building? Plenty of terraces have a single row facing the bay, two at most. Everyone behind gets a view of the terrace.
If the view is why you are coming, say so when you book and give a time as well. Golden hour and ten o'clock at night are very different requests to put to a maître d'.
When Carthage sits down to eat
Lunch is served from noon until three. Dinner rarely begins before half past seven, and in summer the town does not really dine until nine. Turn up earlier and you will have the room to yourself.
The busiest service of the whole week is Sunday lunch. It is also the only one at which nearly every table is local.
Do you need to book?
Midweek and out of season, you will find a table. From May to September, at weekends, and for anything on a terrace, book ahead.
Mention at the same time whatever the house should know about: an allergy, a gluten-free diet, a birthday, a pushchair, a high chair. Each of them needs setting up beforehand, either in the kitchen or on the floor.
Sunset, and where the light goes
The sun sets at around a quarter to eight in June and just after five in December. Here it goes down inland, behind Byrsa, so from a table facing the bay it is the light you watch. The Punic port turns gold first. The bay and Mount Boukornine follow, in pink. Be seated three quarters of an hour before sunset, which is when the light is at its best.
Le RestÔ at Villa Didon
Lunch and dinner are served in the dining room or out on the terrace, looking over the bay and the Punic port. The terrace goes by its own name, La Proue: same menu, a few tables above the gardens, open in season. What is on that menu depends on the market, and it is published online with prices that include service.
You can book for any time from 11am to 11.30pm; there is no break in the afternoon. A request for a table is confirmed the same day, or within twenty-four hours at the very latest.
Sundays are given over to Tunisian cooking, couscous included.
Breakfast is served to order at La Proue, from 8.30am until noon.
Le Perchoir, which the villa calls its suspended garden, opens at lunchtime and carries on through the evening. After that, Le Light Bar takes over.
