Menton is a coastal town on the edge of the Côte d'Azur in Southern part of France. Best known as postcard pretty and instagram worthy with year-round seaside sunshine, it's the perfect vacation spot and foodie destination. We have another mission today (apart from touring Menton though) and that's a long anticipated visit to Restaurant Mirazur run by world renowned chef Mauro Colagreco.
Mirazur's Argentine owner-chef Mauro Colagreco trained under some of the greatest chefs in France including Bernard Loiseau at La Côte d’Or, Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athénée and Guy Martin at Le Grand Véfour. According to Chef Colagreco himself, he finds traditional French sauces a little too heavy so he elects to replace them with scents of herbs, fruits and flowers to make it more delicate on the palate.
Another element he brings to his avante-garde cuisine is the fresh produce from the garden of his restaurant. Vegetables (like the tomatoes we have later on), herbs and spices which are mostly home grown, gives a special character to his dishes.
Mirazur has been a regular fixture in the top 10 of The World's 50 Best Restaurants (No.6 this year) as long as I could remember. Apart from all the international accolades, Chef Colagreco is also tapped by critics as potentially the first non-French chef to earn three Michelin stars in France.
The restaurant is celebrating its 10-year anniversary and they have this special menu drawn up just for this very special occasion. That's the menu we decided to take this afternoon.
Kicking things off for us was a trio of canapés, a crispy biscuit with green apple filling, beetroot jelly topped with goat cheese and fried squid dusted with squid-ink powder. What a great way to start the meal with three incredibly delicious canapés with refined and balanced flavors.
The fried squid came with an extra kick of acidity. Would that be from Menton's beloved lemon?
Tomato salad - Lunch finally got underway and it's a dish made with fresh produce from the chef's garden. The slice of juicy tomato was matched with a light jelly made with tomato water and saffron oil. A very clean and refreshing dish to get our palates ready for action.
The tomato salad came with a small bowl of melon sorbet to further soothe our palates.
Cucumber salad - The second dish of the tasting menu was a beautifully plated salad with cucumber, fennel, green apple and poached mussels. This was finished off superbly with a touch of bottarga and some acidity from lemon juice.
Red prawns from San Remo - Next up were some almost raw Italian “Gamberoni” shrimps from San Remo, renowned for their delicate texture and exceptional sweetness.
The sweetness of the red prawns were wonderfully enhanced by the fruity notes of the raspberry, passion fruit and a yuzu foam while the hazelnuts and lily bulbs added some textural contrast to the mix.
A second serving of the same Gamberoni soon followed. This was done almost like a kadaif with the delicious piece of prawn tightly wrapped with shredded radish before it was dropped into the oil.
It was very crispy on the outside and moist inside. Dipping it into the matcha mayo with matcha powder just made it even more heavenly.
Potato - Various textures of potato including a warm potato soup, or best known as Vichyssoise in Central France were served with some fresh anchovies and capers. I have never been much of a fan for anchovies so not surprisingly, it's not one of my favorite dishes of the afternoon.
The Forest - A very busy dish with an array of earthy flavors thanks to the girolle mushrooms, mushroom purée, parsley sponge and creamy quinoa risotto, to go with some poached new potatoes. There was finally a Grana Padano emulsion to tie everything together.
Tuna - The small piece of red tuna fillet lightly seared, was placed on the plate alongside a pool of liquorice béarnaise, dab of black garlic purée with leeks and lily bulbs. A very simple but with refined and rich flavors.
Pork tail - Pacing was normal up until this point where it started to slow down considerably. We had to wait almost 20 minutes for this dish to arrive.
The slow-cooked pig's tail was served with variations of corn, popcorn, chip and purée while some pearl onions and hay polenta offered some slightly different textures and flavors to the dish.
Challans duck - Our meat course was beautifully cooked Challans duck fillet, paired with a light plum sauce, with variations of plum. Really pleasant dish but again like the previous dish, it took nearly 30 minutes to arrive.
Fig Texture - Pre-dessert consisted of variations of fig including a small fig-flavored panna cotta, fig jelly, granita and fresh fig compote. A real nice palate cleanser for us.
Baba au rhum - Traditional Rum baba topped with slices of peaches (can't see from this angle) and toppings of fresh cream and lemon verbena sorbet.
An incredible balance of sweetness and acidity.
A wonderful set of petite fours put an end to this long (4-hours!) and amazing journey.
I love those peppercorn macarons!
Chef Colagreco is the mastermind of a deceptively simple cuisine that utilizes herbs, fruits and flowers to elevate the flavors of his dishes. It’s an incredibly exciting experience for the eyes but unfortunately less satisfying one for the palates. To be amongst some of the best restaurants in France and the world, I expect a cuisine that excites both my senses and palates at the same time, but the latter wasn’t completely accomplished with today’s meal.
Food Rating: 8.1/10
Price: €€€
Address: 30 Avenue Aristide Briand, 06500 Menton, France
Tel: +33 (0)4 9241-8686
Website: www.mirazur.fr
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 6th (2016)
Price: €€€
Address: 30 Avenue Aristide Briand, 06500 Menton, France
Tel: +33 (0)4 9241-8686
Website: www.mirazur.fr
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 6th (2016)
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