Mirazur: A dreamy experience
On a hill near Menton, a French small city 10 minutes beyond the Italian border, inside a two-floor white building with immense windows, resembling a tiny control tower; there is the Mirazur restaurant, 3 Michelin starred and recently awarded 2019 world’s best restaurant. Mirazur is run by Mauro Colagreco, an Italian-Argentinian chef who reached the peak of his fame in France.
Once you step inside the restaurant, a smiling member of the staff receives you and leads you to the table. . The dining room is brightly lit, and there is a lot of room between the tables. It is not luxuriously furnished but it is elegant. The most relevant aspect of the dining room is the amazing breath-taking view of the sea. Once you are seated down and look forward, it seems that you are cruising the blue ocean. In fact, this unique view is the origin of the name of the restaurant. Indeed, Mirazur means” look at the azure” in Spanish. . Not only are the view and the room are extremely pleasing, but also the atmosphere is unique. In fact, it transcends the glamourous atmosphere typical of the extravagant restaurants. While we were having our lunch, childhood memories arose in me and my fellow diners. We recalled the Sundays spent eating fish together with our family, grandparents and uncles. We were completely relaxed, and there was not a moment when we felt the social pressure of having lunch in the most exclusive restaurant in the world.
The service at Mirazur is in some way magic: it’s there but you don’t notice it. We could say it works in background. Polyglot men and women serve you, help you, and describe you the dishes always with a smile in their face. I add a funny episode in order to convey the experience at Mirazur. After the lunch, we met one of the Mirazur’s waiters in the center of the city. Out of the blue, music could be heard from window, the waiter started dancing joyfully. After hours of work, he was still full of energy: this is Mirazur.
What was the food like?
I should write a book, not an article about the food. Each dish, that I have tasted, is worth a chapter. I will try to summarize in few lines the overall experience.
First, it was the best food that I have ever tried.
Second, there wasn’t a single dish that I didn’t find sublime, outstanding and amazing. The tasting menu was composed of 10 dishes, the more emblematic were:
1. Salt-crusted red beetroot from the garden with caviar cream
2. Mushroom with Foie Gras
3. Squab, spelt and wild strawberries
The salt-crusted red beetroot from the garden with caviar cream may be the dish mostly influenced by the previous chef Colagreco job experience at Arpége with Alain Passard. Indeed, last year I tried the dish “Pétales de radis d’automne fleuris au gèranium” at Arpége. Although the dishes were quite similar, whereas the Arpège one was very good, the Mirazur’s one was sublime. The addition of the caviar cream modifies the consistency and the texture, in a such a way that it seems you are eating a slice of meat. The combination was beyond perfection.
The second dish, Mushroom with Foie Gras, could seem like a joke because it was a quarter of a mushroom and a tiny piece of foie gras. On the other hand, just after the first bite, your palate is conquered by its supreme taste. What one of my fellow diners said perfectly bears witness to the excellence of the dish. She said: “I don’t like mushrooms, I don’t eat foie grass, but this is the best dish I have ever tasted”.
The last dish reviewed is Squad, Spelt and Wild Strawberries.
Pigeon is usually present in the tasting menu of all 3 Michelin starred restaurants. Indeed, it is a dish demonstrating the culinary mastery of a chef. The squab, tasted at Mirazur, had two peculiarties:
1. The pigeon cooked was rare
2. The dressing was made of seeds and berries
The chef’s idea was that you eat the pigeon dressed with what the pigeon eats. The result of this recipe was outstanding: the best pigeon I have ever eaten. The meat was delicate at the palate although it was rare, and the dressing was the perfect match for the squab.
In conclusion, Mirazur is the best restaurant I have ever tried, and together with the pizzeria Pepe in Grani are examples of the excellence of the modern gastronomy. It is an extravagant restaurant. The tasting menu (the only option offered) is around 250 euros, but it is worth every cent.
