26-04-2017
Antonio Buono (30, from Naples) and Davide Garavaglia (28, Milanese). They're respectively co-chef and saucier at Mirazur in Mentone, the restaurant of Argentinian Mauro Colagreco, at number 4 in the World's 50Best 2017, 2 Michelin stars. The pastry chef is Roberta Gesualdo, 32 from Rome
The Carte Blanche tasting menu at Mirazur starts with 8 small tastings that you can enjoy downstairs, close to the kitchen. Tasting #1: Carrot cooked in lime with carrot juice and coriander
Tasting #2: Beetroot with goat cheese
Tasting #3: Leaves from the vegetable garden (in our case, mustard, mizuna, dandelion, rocket...). You must dip them into a small plate with artisanal cream from Cuneo
Tasting #4: Anchovies with lemon confit
Tasting #5: Macaroons with shiitake mushrooms and blood sausage and green apple
Tasting #6: Scorzonera truffle grissini with pork jowl
Tasting #7: "Snails" made with celeriac filled with parsley and cypress cream
Tasting #8: Chicken skin with entrails, chicken consommé and white miso. Once the "tapas" are over, we move to the top floor
The bread arrives with an ode by Pablo Neruda
Gillardeau oyster with a cream of shallot and Williams pear
Under the beetroot, crab emietté, red prawns from Sanremo and hibiscus
Green: peas from our vegetable garden, kiwi and fennel
White asparagus, rhubarb and rose salad
Crapaudine beetroot with Oscetra caviar. We covered it in detail in the 498 issue of our newsletter
Calamari from Bordighera with bagna cauda: the calamari are broken so as to make tagliolini. Beside, clouds of garlic
Sole with citrus fruits, with celeriac and a smoked seafood sauce
Suckling pig with clementine juice and poppy seed
Naranjo en Flor: St Joseph Saffron from Sospel, almond foam and orange sorbet
Fragments of petits fours
Mirazur is one of the few fine dining restaurants offering a fantastic Children’s menu (25 euros for canapés and as many as 6 dishes). In the photo, Courgette flowers, buffalo milk ricotta and marjoram
Again from the children’s menu: Paccheri, lamb shoulder, artichoke and broccoli
The view from the restaurant, wonderful even on a cloudy day
Mauro Colagreco at the latest Identità Golose congress. He turned 40 last October. Among the many acknowledgements, he’s Chevalier des arts et des lettres
Driiiin. «Hallo Antonio, how are you? Is the service ok? How about the prices? Did you include some new dishes in the menu?». The person calling is Mauro Colagreco and on this side of the telephone there’s the Italian co-chef at Mirazur in Mentone, the fourth restaurant in the world (and first in France) according to the latest 50Best. The long distance call from the Argentinian patron-chef is more and more frequent as the number of parallel restaurant increases. Some already open: in China (Unico in Shanghai and Le Siècle in Nanchang), in Paris (Brasserie Grandcoeur) and in the mother country (Carne Hamburgesas in Buenos Aires and in La Plata). Some soon to be opened: a restaurant inside the airport of Nice (ready in 2018) and one in the Casino in Mentone. This absence is painless, as there’s a team, looking over the flagship restaurant on the French-Ligurian border, where most components speak Italian. Key people: the co-chef answering the phone, Neapolitan Antonio Buono, the silent alter ego of Colagreco; Milanese saucier Davide Garavaglia and pastry chef Roberta Gesualdo. Plus a whole series of chef de partie and dining room commis that makes the “Italy” sign that can be seen from the large windows relais&chateaux seem even closer.
At Mirazur Italian is spoken in the dining room too: in the photo by Matteo Carassale, Sara Piantoni from Bordighera (instagram/restaurantmirazur)
Two new openings coming up for Mauro Colagreco: at the airport in Nice and inside the Casino in Mentone
«In the past few years», continues Buono, «our cooking has changed a lot in terms of technique and flavour. Every time the chef returns from his travels, he makes us discover unseen products, new flavours. He has an excellent, well-trained palate». This is why, for instance, one can notice an increasingly stronger Asian touch in the menu. «We’ve learnt a lot from the four-handed dinners organised last year to celebrate the restaurant’s tenth anniversary. For instance, from Rene Redzepi’s brigade we understood what a terrific organisation in the kitchen is like». It’s no bed of roses, though: «The pressure is always very high, much more than in Italy, and much higher recently. Everyone arrives with the highest expectations. And of course not everyone will like you: those who love classic French restaurants often don’t appreciate our cooking. But we know that it’s a bit like in Naples: if you like thin pizza, it’s not likely you’ll fancy pizza gruossa». Mirazur Avenue Aristide Briand, 30 Mentone, France +33.(0)4.92418686 Closed on Monday and Tuesday; never in August. Only tasting menus: Decouverte (3 courses, 65 euros), Inspiration (110 euros), Carte Blanche (160 euros), Signature (210). See also Colagreco: my 10 years of freedom by Carlo Passera Mirazur on the Guida di Identità Golose by Tokyo Cervigni
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt