Menton, France

MirazurThe whole wall is glass, and the sea is straight ahead

Round tables run along the glass and a white boat crosses the water outside. What arrives is decided on the day, by what the garden has cut and what the market has landed.

The restaurant stands at the south-eastern tip of France, in Menton, its windows facing the bay of Garavan and the old town across the water.

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PlaceMenton, France

StyleBlind tasting menu

KitchenMauro Colagreco

GardenFive hectares

Two things the kitchen checks each day

Menton, France — A tasting menu written by the garden.

The menu is written by the garden. Each morning the kitchen checks two things: what has been cut in the garden, and what fish and meat the market has brought in. The plots are spread out; the furthest, up in the hills, supplies most of the vegetables, and the nearest sits on a terrace above the sea beside the restaurant. Whatever comes in surplus, or grows in shapes nobody wants, goes to the fermentation room and the vinegar cellar to become kombucha, vinegar and pickles. They call this circular cooking: keeping things moving between garden, kitchen and cellar.

One route only, in nine sections, each led by a single vegetable. Four menus rotate against a biodynamic calendar, so which one a guest sits down to is decided by the date rather than by preference.

Mauro Colagreco came from Argentina, settled in France and opened the restaurant on the sea side of Menton. The main room faces the Mediterranean along its whole length, tables along the glass, the bay and the painted fronts of the old town ahead.

The dining room interior: white walls and square columns, a canvas awning outside the windows, round tables scattered on a wooden floor, curved off-white chair backs and a small bowl of flowers on each table — Round tables on the wooden floor under a canopy

A round table by the window with tomatoes, carrots and green leaves piled at its centre, curved off-white chair backs, black table legs and a pale sea beyond the glass — Tomatoes and carrots piled at the centre of the table

A wooden chair in the garden holding a wicker basket of dark green and purple leaves, a straw hat with a black-and-white band leaning against the basket, blurred foliage behind

The basket brought back from the garden

A wicker basket is packed with leaves just cut, purple undersides turned out and thin stems hanging past the rim. A straw hat with a black-and-white band rests against the basket, its brim pressing on the leaves. The basket sits on an old wooden chair whose legs have sunk into the grass.

A white plate seen from above with a small heap of dark cooked leaves at its centre, still glossy, a wooden-handled knife entering from the lower edge, beetroot with roots, serrated mustard greens and sprigs of sage scattered around on a brown cloth

What has not been cooked yet

On a white plate there is only a heap of dark red leaves, wilted by heat, and a wooden-handled knife pushing them inwards. Around the plate lie beetroot, mustard greens and sage. Nothing else is on it, and the knife has not been taken away.

At an open fire, a whole row of meat on the bone blackened on an iron rack, a cook in a dark blue apron with rolled sleeves pressing herbs onto it with one hand and holding a small copper pan in the other, smoke filling the air

The row of meat by the fire

Fire burns on the left while an iron rack presses down a whole row of meat on the bone, the skin already blackened. A cook holds a bunch of herbs against the meat with one hand and a small copper pan in the other, and smoke climbs through the grill.

At sunset a figure stands at the window raising a glass towards the sea, a round table in front with a bird-of-paradise flower and glasses, the sea and the sky both orange-pink

Route

After lunch, walk to the old town

This can be the whole of a day in Menton: come in at midday, eat for as long as the nine sections take, then follow the coast on foot towards the old town.

A room open to the sea

No solid wall blocks the water in the main room. Glass runs from one end to the other, so in daylight there is almost no need for lamps, and the light falls on wooden floors and round tables. Tables stand well apart, chair backs curve in off-white, and each table holds a small bowl of flowers or a few vegetables.

Behind the room is the courtyard, roofed with a canopy that can be opened and enclosed by plants on every side, with tables moved outside when the weather allows. In the kitchen stands a long table called La Mesa, seating up to eight beside the stoves. Further in is La Puerta, a room for sixteen with an open kitchen, a cellar of wood and glass, records and art books.

How the nine sections are laid out

There is no ordering here, only one carte blanche. The kitchen breaks it into nine sections, each led by one plant, with the rest following the day's harvest and deliveries. A dish does not, as a rule, appear twice, so a return visit after a few months finds most of the table changed.

The four menus take their names from the cosmos, and their scheduling follows the positions of the moon and the constellations. The calendar holds that plants respond to both, and leans the menu towards whichever part is strongest on those days. Which of the four a guest sits down to is settled by the calendar rather than by request.

Also worth knowing

How the land is divided, how the wine is poured, and how a table is held.

Three plots

Rosmarino is the closest, one hectare at twenty metres above sea level, a terrace against the water growing citrus, bananas and jasmine. Castillon, in the hills, is three hectares at six hundred metres, supplying most of the vegetables and holding a grove of hundred-year-old olives. Together they come to five hectares, with up to fifteen hundred varieties registered.

The wine list and the pairings

The list runs past forty thousand bottles and five thousand labels. Pairings come in three sets, Terroir, Exception and Origine, the last returning to the choices made in the year the restaurant opened. A separate non-alcoholic pairing infuses, ferments and decocts plants from the garden, with no grapes at all.

Booking and cancellation

Dates are chosen on the official site, and a reservation is confirmed only once card details are left. Cancelling more than fifteen days before the meal costs nothing; after that, or on a no-show, a charge is made per person. When the room is full there is a waiting list, and the restaurant calls if a table is released.

The fermentation room and the vinegar cellar

What the garden cannot use does not go into the bin. Kombucha, vinegar, infusions and preserves are made there, and the kitchen brings them back in to season with.

Who does the research

The development team is not only cooks. It includes an anthropological archaeologist, writers, an ethnobotanist and advisers on sustainability, who read traditional methods, write, measure impact and develop new recipes.

Where it is

30, avenue Aristide Briand, 06500 Menton. The telephone number is +33 (0)4 92 41 86 86, and reservations go to [email protected].

Putting a meal here into a trip

One menu, four rotations, a card needed to hold the table, and a garden that decides the rest.

Cuisine

Mediterranean cooking served as a single blind menu. The kitchen writes one route of nine sections, each built around one vegetable.

Booking

Online through the official site. A credit card has to be left for the booking to be confirmed; without it the reservation does not stand.

Hours

No fixed hours are published on the official site; sittings open through the reservation calendar.

Dress and diet

No dress code is listed on the official site. The kitchen works from what the garden and the market bring, so any restriction should be raised with the restaurant before booking.

Plan this into a journey

Tell us the dates and who is travelling, and we can talk through how a long lunch here fits a stretch of the Riviera.

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