Bastia eats well and locally. Corsican cuisine stands apart from mainland French cooking, drawing on the island's own larder: charcuterie from the native black pig (porc nustrale), brocciu (a fresh whey cheese made from ewe's milk), chestnuts in pasta, soup, beer, and liqueur, and the aromatic herbs of the maquis — rosemary, thyme, wild fennel, and the dense shrubs that give the Corsican countryside its distinctive scent. Seafood is fresh and simply prepared.
The cafes and restaurants of the Vieux Port are the most atmospheric places to eat in Bastia, with tables on the cobbled quayside and menus built around the day's catch. The Terra Vecchia lanes nearby have a cluster of more traditional restaurants where Corsican home cooking is done seriously and cheaply.
For a Corsican charcuterie and cheese board with a glass of Patrimonio, almost any of the cafes around Place Saint-Nicolas will do the job competently. The Muscat du Cap Corse — a sweet wine from the peninsula north of Bastia — is worth trying with dessert.