What it’s like to dine at 3-Michelin-starred Mirazur by chef Mauro Colagreco in the French Riviera

The absence of pomp and ceremony when one arrives at Mirazur is intriguing. No stream of glitterati dolled up to the nines the likes of which you would find in nearby Monaco. No fuss, no fanfare.

In its place, a sense of peace and serenity and an entrance so nondescript as if to say, nothing remarkable is happening here. To the locals, it’s just another day in the south of France. But step through the unassuming threshold slightly obscured by towering palm trees and you will find nothing ordinary happening here.

For legions of foodies the world over, making a gastronomic pilgrimage to Mirazur on the French Riviera is a privilege of the highest order. It’s apparently a two-month waitlist to dine at chef Mauro Colagreco’s acclaimed restaurant which, incidentally, held an exclusive three-month residency at Mandala Club in Singapore in 2021. After all, it’s studded with stars, earning its first Michelin star within a year of opening and its third in 2019 – the same year it was also voted ‘Best Restaurant in the World’ by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Expectations, therefore, were high.

JEWEL OF THE RIVIERA

‘Mirazur’ means “to look at the blue” in Spanish, which you’ll soon understand once you walk into the restaurant housed in a 1930s rotunda watchtower located at the foot of the mountains in the seaside town of Menton. Spread over three levels, this ‘Jewel of the Riviera’ sits on French soil mere steps away from the Italian border.

The white watchtower, etched onto the hillside, lends itself to a rather unorthodox flow of discovery as you enter what’s essentially the second storey, greeted by an open-concept kitchen – a hive of activity buzzing with consummate professionals engrossed in the art of perfection. The ‘basement’, or first level, comprises a private dining area, and you walk up a flight of stairs to the main dining room on the third floor. This is where the magic of the Mediterranean unfolds.

Sweeping ocean views immediately evoke awe on sight, and all manner of hyperbole come to mind. Spectacular. Breathtaking. Magnificent.

“Location, location, location,” as they say in the property game, and Colagreco certainly struck real estate gold when he set up shop here in 2006, He also intends to open a 10-key eco boutique hotel at this spot on Mirazur’s 20th anniversary in 2026.

The upcoming hotel will likely be an extension of the Mirazur branding and concept, informed by the same environmental principles that have clinched the restaurant a Michelin Green Star award in 2020 and more recently, B Corp status – a notoriously hard-to-achieve nod towards Mirazur’s dedication to social and environmental responsibility and standards – this year.

IT’S IN THE STARS

The restaurant interior is elegant yet spartan, eschewing the sort of overly ornate decor you might find in other fine dining European establishments; deliberately staged to evoke a certain simplicity that allows the real stars to shine: The food and the view, in almost equal measure.

Every table offers amazing views of the vast Mediterranean Sea through panoramic wraparound windows that allow you to gaze upon the coastlines of Monaco to the right and Italy on the left as you savour each exquisitely crafted bite of the 9-course, €450 (US$490; S$642) menu.

Now the best way to enjoy this precious view is, indubitably, during the daytime so we recommend making a reservation for lunch, which we did one fine summer afternoon.

Our gastronomic journey began with a piece of literature cum keepsake of the experience: A delightful ode to the humble staple that is bread, by Chilean poet-politician Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. It was a stroke of genius that no doubt charmed and disarmed this weary traveller and set the tone for the rest of the meal infused with Colagreco’s culinary and life philosophies.

Having worked under many of the foremost names in French gastronomy including both Alain Ducasse and Alain Passard, the 48-year-old chef of Argentine-Italian heritage has developed his own style of cuisine centred around circular gastronomy that champions a keen respect for the environment. It is rooted in the biodynamic cycles of his 5-hectare permaculture gardens, which refers to an approach to farming that focuses on land management and design principles for natural ecosystems and sustainable food production methods to flourish.

Located within walking distance of the restaurant, Villa Rosmarino is housed within the ruins of a French chateau and diners are encouraged to visit the gardens before the meal to better understand how the vegetables on their plate are farmed and harvested.

According to the principles of biodynamics, the cosmic interplay between the planets has an influence on all living things and it is believed that each day, plants benefit from specific cosmic stimuli acting on one of their four parts – roots, leaves, flowers or fruit – as determined by the biodynamic lunar calendar. Harvesting and, therefore, the day’s menu are aligned with the times when the energy is most favourable and most concentrated in each part of the plant.

This singularity of Colagreco’s approach, underscored by his appointment as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity in 2022, is expressed as a four-menu offering under the umbrella concept titled The Universe. Depending on the day of your reservation, you will be served either a ‘Roots’, ‘Leaves’, ‘Flowers’ or ‘Fruits’ menu, each designed to correspondingly hero these ingredients, and you won’t know which you’ll get until you arrive.

THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

It was a Thursday. And so it was ‘Roots’ day, or ‘Univers Racines’, I was told. Though I didn’t need to be told – the heap of carrots, ginger, onions, potatoes and turnips on the table offered a clue.

This meant that a component of a root vegetable would be ennobled in each dish, whether in true form, as a dressing or as an expression of artistry, and never to be reprised in the rest of the meal. The menu is left entirely carte blanche, or omakase style, where the chef decides what you’ll be served.

As soon as we were seated, a three-piece-suited male server swiftly fetched a wooden plate and set it to my left, upon which he gently placed my Ray-Bans. Oh, the linen-free dining table was much too pedestrian for my decades-old aviators. It needed a throne. “I could certainly do with such upper crust fabulousness at every meal,” I thought to myself.

Then, they brought the bread. An authentic recipe of Colagreco’s Italian nonna, accompanied by olive oil infused with ginger and lemon juice – Colagreco is also known as ‘The Citrus Chef’ for his affection for the ingredient.

The next nine courses were a smorgasmic testimony to how beautifully Colagreco’s philosophies translate onto the plate; a carnival for the senses as colour, texture and taste together teased with some form of element of surprise.Hidden beneath a sliced onion dome, is the gamberoni (shrimp) from the Italian coastal town of San Remo. Ribbons of beetroot that looked like beef carpaccio are elevated with generous dollops of Oscietre caviar. A tart topped with finely sliced radish resembling a shoal of tiny fish scales that part to reveal sweet and succulent gobbets of lobster. And the ‘Catch of the Day’ nestled beneath a quilt of paper-thin strips of carrot interlaced like a Bottega Veneta skin.

And sometimes, it was better not knowing what you’re eating, as was the case with Vitelotte Potato - Anchovies, which featured six slivers of the silver fish interspersed with lard (yes, lard) lined neatly on a bed of purple potato. There was also langoustine swimming in a turmeric bisque, though one should note that the meal was not purely pescatarian, as guinea fowl accompanied by a garlic puree graced the plate for the mains, followed by an elaborate dessert and cheese trolley spread.

Each dish impeccable in presentation, impressing with both flair and savoire-faire in how cleverly the root element is made the protagonist of each course, and not the protein as tradition dictates. Then, there’s the astonishing level of meticulousness involved in the tweezer-intensive operation of crafting these extremely delicate objet d’arts.

Now to honour such a labour of love emblematic of the slow food movement, it seems only equitable to ingest the meal just as languorously. And thus, five hours was all it took us.