On a recent visit to Macau, the Italian-Argentine chef who helms the #1 restaurant on the World’s 50 Best list took some time to chat at his MGM Cotai restaurant, Grill 58
Menton, on the picturesque Cote d’Azur, is the final French frontier before travellers step into Italy—and yet an unlikely destination for anyone except the most dedicated of culinary tourists. Previously best known for its abundance of citrus, the tiny French Riviera town (population: just south of 30,000) was suddenly thrust into the limelight following the crowning of Mirazur as the “world’s best restaurant”, according to the annual 50 Best Restaurants list for 2019. As for Mauro Colagreco, the man behind the three Michelin starred restaurant, he became the first non-French chef to pick up the accolade—a real vindication for an Argentinian (with Italian roots) who spent much of his early years proving himself in the vicious environment of top French kitchens.
“To open Mirazur was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken,” says Colagreco. “But I wasn’t afraid at all.” This bold statement doesn’t come from a position of arrogance—the reason why he thinks he was able to go out on a limb was because he was “young and inexperienced”. This comes out lightly, almost bashfully. It’s curious, considering the fact that before opening his Menton restaurant in 2006, Colagreco had already worked with some of the world’s greatest French chefs—among them, the highly respected yet ultimately ill-fated Bernard Loiseau of La Côte d'Or, who committed suicide in 2003, fearing the loss of his restaurant's third Michelin star; Alain Passard of L’Arpège, known in culinary circles as ‘the godfather of vegetables’; and the legendary Alain Ducasse, who set him up for half a year as the garde manger chef de partie at his gilded Plaza Athénée restaurant in the City of Light. Burned out from working 15-plus hour days, Colagreco eventually decided he needed to leave Paris, and it was a serendipitous opportunity through a friend of a friend that the young chef was introduced to the property that would eventually become Mirazur—Menton did the rest, its understated allure and seaside location striking a chord in the chef, who had always felt affinity with the ocean and mountains.
See also: The World's Best Restaurant Is Mirazur By Chef Mauro Colagreco
“I chose a fantastic place, but it was a difficult location to make business,” Colagreco revealed. “It’s in the countryside, and it’s a very seasonal town. It’s not in the centre of anything, so it was a big challenge. And now, Menton is known for Mirazur!” He laughs, before adding: “As well as our lemon festival.” Colagreco’s restaurant is now firmly knit into the fabric of Menton, tightly intertwined with its food culture—so much so that the town's mayor granted the chef access to Menton’s citrus garden archives, where over 250 varieties await exploration and experimentation. After four years, the team have only managed to graze the surface with studies into around 25 of them—and Colagreco is excited to dig deeper into the possibilities. In his own gardens at the restaurant (which he recently expanded by three hectares), there are already over a dozen IGP lemon trees that provide the pantry with bursts of sunshine wherever it is needed—as the bright note in the restaurant’s signature lemon and ginger olive oil, served with his grandmother’s sharing bread recipe, or in dishes like anchovies with fried anchovy skeletons and lemon.
To open Mirazur was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. But I wasn’t afraid at all.