Next to the medina on Hammamet’s main strip (a five-minute taxi ride from Hammamet Jasmine on the peninsula), La Belle Vue is a crowd-pleaser. The food isn’t worth writing postcards home about, but it’s consistently decent, service is fast and you can enjoy views of the medina and the crystal clear ocean while you eat. If you’re hungry in Hammamet and need a reliable quick lunch, La Belle Vue is your answer.

There are about thirty simple tables on the terrace, all with sea views and brightly-coloured plastic chairs. The kind waitstaff will bring high chairs for kids and service always comes with a smile. Just don’t mind the cats that slink around the tables asking for handouts; the waiters will shoo them away.

For appetizers, there’s the standard free fare of olives, harissa, crudites and French bread. The salads are generally fresh and good; the Tunisian salad comes with fresh tuna steak and diced vegetables, dressed in simple olive oil and vinegar. The chef whips up briks daily; choose from ingredients like egg, tuna and shrimp. When it comes to entrees, it’s definitely worth asking if there’s fresh fish of the day. We were shown to the ice cabinet, brimming with sea bass and rock fish that came in with the morning catch. The couscous (USD13) is also pretty good here; ours came with African eggplant (green as opposed to North American purple), carrots and onions, plus a jug of lightly-spiced sauce.

This is also an okay place to grab a late night drink. The terrace is usually open until the early hours of the morning, pumping out low-volume love ballads and crowd-pleasing pop tunes until the last customers turn in for the night. There’s a cocktail list – mojitos, whiskey sours, plus sangria – and a lengthy selection of beers, juices and some Tunisian wines. In short, this spot won’t blow your mind, but it’s a safe and easy bet – you could do much worse in Hammamemet.