200 meters from the border with France is the first venue for The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2019. A beautiful place, a temple of natural, light and classy cuisine. Here are the iconic dishes of chef Mauro Colagreco, with many tricolor references
The whole world, but above all a lot of France and a lot of Italy. It could not be otherwise: for the location of the restaurant, for the story of the chef-patron, for the composition of the brigade. The French will be furious – as in the song Bartali by Paolo Conte -, but the Mirazur (best restaurant for the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019) we feel it is ours and not a little. We explain. The place is located exactly 200 meters from the border between Italy and France. Moreover, Menton can be considered the most "Italian" French town or the most Italian town in the French territory. His director is 43-year-old Mauro Colagreco, an Argentine by birth, with three Italian and one Basque grandparents, and a Brazilian wife. He actually became a cook in Buenos Aires and learned haute cuisine in France – among the myths like the late Bernard Loiseau, Alain Passard and Alain Ducasse -, but even if he never worked in our country, he knows everything about Italian cuisine . Finally, in the brigade thirteen people arrive from Italy: the Neapolitan Antonio Buono is the historical right-hand man, the Milanese Davide Garavaglia the saucier that Oltralpe plays a fundamental role, the Brescian Annalisa Borella leads the pastry shop.
Three Michelin Stars from January
Colagreco opened Mirazur in 2006. «It was a place closed for 4 years, an immense structure far from the center of the country, on the French Riviera where there is so much competition and people come only in the summer. We were three in the kitchen and two in the room: I thought I would last a few years and then return to Argentina, "he said. Instead, it went very well for him. Michelin star in a year, bis in 2012, tris last January: no Argentine had ever achieved such results. For ten years Colagreco has been firmly in the top ten of The World's 50 Best Restaurants: it had debuted in 35th place in 2009 and here it is on the highest step of the podium, even if it is human to think that the new regulation of the ranking – which has created a Hall of Fame for the already winners (like Can Roca and Osteria Francescana) – he favored it. But for years it has been at the top (sixth in 2016, fourth in 2017, third in 2018) and has seized the golden opportunity.
Mer, jardin and mountains
The Mirazur is an oasis of great cuisine, enclosed between the sea and the mountains, with a spectacular vegetable garden that provides fruit (citrus fruit in particular), vegetables, herbs. Colagreco feels lucky "I am an Argentine in the midst of two great culinary cultures, the Italian and the French, who enjoyed total freedom of expression. I had the chance to tell a territory like never before, because I didn't have pre-established schemes, I go from one territory to another without borders. I look for, I study, I try . Indeed it is, beyond his talent – formidable on the vegetable – and his experience. Following in part the master Ducasse, who has never hidden a Ligurian-Italic inspiration in the menu of the Louis XV of Monte Carlo, he creates very light, "fresh", very colorful dishes. Definitely much more contemporary and Mediterranean than the classic and French. With a total seasonality and a philosophy based – he always repeats it – on three fronts: Mer, Jardin and Montagne.
Only surprise tasting
There is no paper, only a tasting for 260 euros and another, only for lunch, even more centered on the territory, proposed at 160 euros. Tradition? Very little. "I love it is clear, I believe that it should be treasured, respecting it and then making it evolve", is his opinion. Any dishes? Just to guess, since it churns out dozens every year and loves the surprise: on the official website of the Mirazur there is only philosophy and Mauro notoriously does not like to explain the recipes. So just to guess we tell you that among the last dishes there are Beetroot in salt crust of the garden with caviar cream (in the photo at the opening); Chicken coop eggs with smoked eel and hazelnuts; Potato brioche with melted egg and white truffle; Domestic pigeon, spelled and wild strawberries. The bread to share is imbued with ginger and served with a poem by Pablo Neruda. Colagreco, who made himself known to the TV audience as a judge – quite naughty – of Top Chef has a precise vision of our kitchen. "Tradition, product, modernity, above all diversity: North, Center, South … I love diversity, it is a treasure to be preserved. Italy has been the country most ready to absorb historically the influence of other cultures. He is a traditionalist, but must always be evolving . Perfect, it's (almost) one of ours
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