Iconic Dishes of Mauro Colagreco, Mirazur

The recent announcement of Michelin France 2019 placed two new restaurants in the three star category: chef Laurent Petit’s Le Clos des Sens and Mirazur by chef Mauro Colagreco. Here, we cover chef Colagreco and his restaurant Mirazur as part of our Iconic Dishes series; our look at the world’s top chefs and the dishes, styles and techniques that have come to define them.

We’ve always kept a close watch on Colagreco. We’ve followed the Argentinian native of class 1976 in his steady climb over the last decade, ever since the opening of his restaurant Mirazur. It was his first solo venture, one that obviously he was ready for after years of training in various kitchens in Paris (he was with Alain Passard at Arpège and Alain Ducasse at the Hotel Plaza Athénée). Mirazur’s first Michelin star arrived just ten months after opening, in 2007, and has maintained two stars since 2012.

It is of course Colagreco’s inventive, creative cooking style that has taken Mirazur to be one of the top ranking restaurants in the world (he’s currently placed at number three on World’s 50 Best Restaurants). The dishes he creates are a culmination of all the different cultures he has experienced throughout his life, from his Italian-Argentinian heritage, the French chefs that he trained under, to the local culture and natural environment of the French-Italian border where the restaurant is placed. His food is all of these, but also none of these at the same time, because the resulting dishes at Mirazur are firmly his personal interpretation of all these influences.

The latest announcement placing him under the three-Michelin-star-chef category seems well-deserved, also considering how busy the chef has been recently. To recall what has happened to him just in the last year: Mirazur entered into the top three of World’s 50 Best Restaurants, he opened a pop-up restaurant in Madrid, the restaurant’s first book was released, titled ’Mirazur’, there was the opening of the L’Estivale restaurant at Nice airport, and just to top it all off, he took on the role of the godfather at the Chef’s World Summit 2018 in Monaco organising chefs from all over the world and leading the conversation on chef welfare and sustainability in the kitchen.

Colagreco’s restaurant is located in Menton on the French Riviera, found on the foot of the Alps facing the Mediterranean ocean. Its breathtaking surroundings, apart from Colagreco and his team's unique cuisine, are also one of the things that has come to define the restaurant.

Without ado, let's take a look at some of the iconic dishes by this talented chef.