The Friendliest Three Star Restaurant
Also, an inexpensive kitchen tool that will change your life. And a giveaway of my forthcoming novel.
I wrote about Mauro Colagreco last year, after one of the most intoxicating meals of my life. You can read about this warm, talented chef here. Ever since that meal, I’ve been dying to go back.
It’s not just that the restaurant is lovely, the view fantastic and the extremely creative food delicious. It’s that this restaurant is unlike any other three-star establishment I’ve experienced. All of those exalted establishments are beautifully appointed, enormously expensive and filled with suit-wearing waiters (yes, the women too), who are invariably polite, attentive and correct. What sets Mirazur apart is the sheer warmth of the welcome. You feel that the people here are happy, and they want you to be happy too.
Last year we were there for a Flower menu. This year it was Roots, and when I walked in to find tables decorated with beets, potatoes, carrots and onions I wondered how those homely roots could possibly live up to the beauty of the flowers.
Then this arrived… and I was enchanted. Carved radishes filled with trout roe gleamed and glistened, lovely as jewels.
Then there was this little enchantment fashioned from radishes and turnips which - like all the fruits and vegetables - come from the gardens surrounding the restaurant.
This vitelotte - blue potatoes with anchovies in a lardo coat, reminded me of something Magritte might have painted.
Beets - always the beauties of the garden - have never looked more glamorous than they do in Mauro’s hand
….unless it’s when they’re dressed in a cloak made of caviar and cream.
Mauro coaxes unexpected flavors from familiar foods. But the next dish simply made me moan. I was so entranced with this tumble of textures and tastes that I ate it in a dreamlike state, so I can’t show you the trembling, barely warm oysters and just-dug potatoes hiding beneath that cloud of rich foam.
Black garlic seemed ecstatic to find itself snuggling up to foie gras; garlic has never seemed so sexy.
Beneath these leeks hides the catch of the day, red snapper swathed in the most luxurious hollandaise.
Could carrots possibly compete? Take a look.
Wasabi, green apple and yogurt make a very refreshing sorbet
There was much more…. but the showstopper was this beet birthday cake.
Which concealed a few inner secrets…
When Nancy Silverton tells you she’s just found the perfect vegetable peeler, the only thing to do is order one.
She’s right. I love my new Kai select 100 peeler; it might even give me the confidence to attempt some of the dishes above….
If you would like to be an early reader of my new book, here’s your chance. Starting tomorrow Goodreads will have 50 galleys to give away.
Here’s the link: it will go live on Saturday.
I booked a table at Mirazur based upon your Oct 2022 post; we were going to be on the Italian coast about an hour south this fall. I also reserved a tour of their garden before the Sunday lunch on 10/8.
We were driving around northern Italy in September and stayed at a favorite hotel, Villa della Pergola, in Alassio for the first week of October. We were enjoying the food at their 1-star Michelin restaurant, Nove, in an elegant but casual garden patio overlooking the water. I was wondering if I made a mistake booking the Mirazur reservation, I was dreading a 3-star formal experience but we had to honor the reservation.
We were thrilled with the experience, everything about that day was wonderful from the garden tour by one of the kitchen staff to the creative and beautiful flower menu. Lunch allows full appreciation of their amazing view. I think we were there the day before you but we had the flower menu. The magenta cosmo dish you pictured was one of my favorites, it had veal tartare underneath. My other favorites were yuca petals (crunchy) with caviar served on top of a sauce and a hibiscus dish. I can't figure out how to post pics, they are a piece of edible art. The service was so fun, the opposite of what I expected. I splurged with the extraordinary wine pairing and was glad I did. I’m not an expert on wine but I knew it would be the place to taste wines I’d never have at home. Wine service wasn’t even stuffy. My only disappointment was I didn’t have time to go on the kitchen tour after lunch because we had to get back to Alassio for an evening appointment. I don’t know if the kitchen visit was part of the garden tour (garden before lunch and kitchen after). I didn’t understand they were offering a kitchen tour when I booked the reservation. It is expensive. It costs a lot of money to have that quality of food and service, he employees 100 people including 12 gardeners and 1 horticulturist.
I also highly recommend restaurant Nove and Villa della Pergola. The hotel is a restored English colonial villa situated on top of a 5 acre terraced garden overlooking the sea. The new chef is making amazing dishes, my favorite of our 6 week trip was his lobster on tagliatelle with veal sauce and vadouvan. It has reasonable rooms along with suites and the restaurant serves a la carte in addition to prix fixe. They don’t get many Americans which is a shame. It is an easy drive from the south of France, Piedmont or Milan. They will also arrange car transport from the Nice airport. Their website has info on the hotel, gardens and chef. I had notes about the Armato oil mill in Alassio who also produces extraordinary red pepper flakes. I think it was from one of your posts but I’m not sure. I found their mill/store but they were closed for vacation. On my list for next time.
These dishes look devine. What did you sip with these beautiful creations