Mirazur residency at The Gantry, Sydney: Visiting Menton, the home of the three-Michelin-star restaurant

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Mirazur residency at The Gantry, Sydney: Visiting Menton, the home of the three-Michelin-star restaurant

By Chrissie McClatchie
Updated
Mirazur's large windows frame a postcard view of Menton's colourful old town cascading towards the harbour.

Mirazur's large windows frame a postcard view of Menton's colourful old town cascading towards the harbour.

As three-Michelin-star French restaurant Mirazur launches its residency at The Gantry in Sydney this week, Chrissie McClatchie discovers chef Mauro Colagreco's French Riviera home town, Menton.

The last place I expected to find myself on my mid-November weekend break in Menton on the French Riviera was in Mauro Colagreco's backyard. But, here I am, learning how to tell my clementines from my mandarins with the Argentinian chef's head gardener, Arthur, in a terraced vegetable patch that backs onto his family home. We're just footsteps away from a sunlit conservatory that I imagine Colagreco, who is out of the country, rarely gets to use.

One of four produce gardens Colagreco cultivates in the area, the organic landscape feels like the secret gardens of my favourite childhood stories come to life. Growing out of the ruins of an old chateau, once the royal residence of Belgium's King Albert I, bright orange nasturtiums cling to heavy stone balustrades alongside still-to-ripen pumpkins basking in the late autumn sun. The final granite tips of the Maritime Alps before they spill into the Mediterranean Sea loom large around us.

Mauro Colagreco in his garden.

Mauro Colagreco in his garden.

As we push past vines heaving with passionfruit, Arthur picks some peppery wild rocket for me to taste and points out tall hibiscus plants, caper bushes and hanging zucchinis. Mirazur, the restaurant that has earned Colagreco three Michelin stars (and a Green Star) and the "World's Best Restaurant" title in 2019, is just a few hundred metres down the road, inside a 1930s villa on the last bend of France before the Italian border.

Arthur explains that one of his team is always on hand to dash down with a handful of Greek basil or a basket of finger limes when the call comes for fresh supplies from Mirazur's kitchen. During the day, they're also here to greet diners who have requested a tour of the garden when making their reservation.

Camouflaged from the road by leafy palms, Mirazur's dining room is angled to perfection with delicate dishes timed to the lunar cycle served up under large windows that frame a postcard view of Menton's colourful old town cascading towards the harbour.

That evening, I realise there's an almost identical perspective to be enjoyed from Casa Fuego, Colagreco's Argentinian grill just around the corner. If Mirazur blurs the line between food and art, Casa Fuego (house of fire in Spanish) is a taste of home, a celebration of the flavours and conviviality of the asados (barbecues) of Colagreco's youth. There's a sultry, date-night mood, flamed by the naked fire in the open kitchen and matched by the spicy empanadas, juicy chargrilled steaks and big Argentinian red wines on the menu.

I'm brought back to the south of France with dessert, a classic lemon tart made from Menton's famous citrus variety by Mitron Bakery, an organic boulangerie Colagreco recently opened in the centre of town.

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The next morning I head into the pedestrianized shopping precinct around rue Saint-Michel, where I find Mitron's rich blue and warm yellow facade among the boutiques selling brightly provencal fabrics and zesty limoncellos. One of the new wave of French bakeries bringing rare and forgotten flours to the fore, I snack on a pissaladiere, an onion and anchovy pizza that's a typical street food dish of the region, and ask for a crusty loaf made from Petanielle Noire de Nice, a local grain, to be wrapped up to enjoy later.

Pecora Negra (black sheep in Italian) completes the Colagreco Menton quartet. All four addresses in his adopted hometown share a hyper-local, seasonal and sustainable philosophy: at this relaxed pizzeria along Les Sablettes, a lively beachfront esplanade and the hub of local life, ingredients mainly come from the Mirazur gardens or small producers found within a 100-kilometre radius of the restaurant. Paper-thin Neapolitan-style pizzas with puffy crusts emerge fresh from a plum-red pizza oven so large I can see it from my terrace table. A fun sheep illustration on napkins and placemats fits the family-friendly surroundings.

Colagreco first arrived in Menton in 2006 at the age of 29, opening Mirazur not long after. Nearly 20 years on, his reach now extends around the world. But as I take in the scene from Pecora Negra, across the port towards the hillside location of his home and star restaurant, it's seems as clear as the famous French Riviera light that, for the self-described "gardener with a chef's jacket", the mountains-meets-sea terrain of Menton is the muse that has inspired it all.

Chrissie McClatchie travelled as a guest of Menton Riviera & Merveilles tourism.

THE DETAILS

FLY

Emirates operates a daily service from Sydney and Melbourne to Dubai with connections to Nice. See emirates.com.

Menton is a 30 minute taxi ride away, or an hour and a half on the airport bus via Monaco.

STAY

The Ibis Styles Menton Centre offers bright, centrally located rooms, some with balconies. See accorhotels.com

EAT

A meal at Mirazur costs €380 ($600 and €450/$710 from May 1), bookings can be made online, see mirazur.fr. Mains at Casa Fuego start at €24 (casafuego.fr), pizzas at Pecora Negra from €11.50 (pecoranegra.fr).

Mirazur Beyond Borders is at The Gantry, Pier One Sydney Harbour from March 10 until April 9. It costs $685 a person for snacks and a multi-course Mirazur Tasting Menu. Wine pairings from $210. See chefworldtour.com/mirazursydney

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