Mirazur chef Mauro Colagreco to run two new restaurants at the Maybourne Riviera near Montecarlo

It has been announced that chef Mauro Colagreco is taking charge of two dedicated restaurants within the soon-to-be-launched hotel, Maybourne Riviera. The building will join London’s iconic Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Berkeley as part of the renowned Maybourne Hotel Group. Both of the new restaurants will hold prominent positions within the strikingly modernist hotel, which is built on a rocky peninsula high above the town of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, located on the French Riviera.

The chef’s flagship venue will be Ceto, which will focus on the sea, and which is set to open next week on Saturday 9^th October. Located on the hotel’s top floor with dramatic panoramic views out over the Mediterranean, it is a true parallel between the sky and sea and will reflect Colagreco’s ambition and passion. However, Ceto will be more than just a restaurant: it will also be a “marine culinary workshop” to deepen knowledge of the region’s aquatic species and research sustainable ecological solutions. 

The dishes on the menu will play with texture, flavour and cooking processes, with the grill the centrepiece of the restaurant’s open kitchen. The menu will represent the whole of the Mediterranean according to the seasons, using not only fish and shellfish but including ingredients such as seaweed, sea herbs, samphire, sea fennel, sea cucumber and snails. Sample dishes include Red Tuna – matured belly with Kombu seaweed, XO sauce; Red Scorpionfish – grilled cèpes, roasted Cévennes onion sauce; and Monkfish – kale on the embers, bread crust sauce. A selection of vegetarian and pasture-fed meat dishes will also be offered, such as tiger veal reared by the sea in Corsica.

The restaurant will also house a maturation chamber for research and development. This will allow the team to deepen its methods of preserving fish and prolong its maturation by allowing all the flavour and texture to develop in the meat. Each species will be studied individually, and the entire fish used whenever possible (skin, fins, bones and eyes).

Colagreco aims to bring this approach and his expertise to help change perspectives on fishing. He desires to shake up traditional codes: the distance and depth of fishing, seasonality, the use of the maturation chamber, anti-waste and the collaboration with renowned scientists.

The décor of Ceto restaurant has been created by architect-designer Marcelo Joulia, with tableware specially sourced and pieces created exclusively by local artists and artisan producers. 

In addition, Mauro will also oversee the venue on the ground floor of the hotel. The Riviera Restaurant, already opened on the 22^nd of September, offers regional gastronomy in its simplest form. Available for lunch, dinner and throughout the day, the menus naturally retrace the region’s local gastronomic history: from Genoa to Saint Tropez, between mountain and sea. His creations will highlight regional specialities with the greatest respect for the product, season and producer. From Niçoise salad, Spaghetti alla Genovese, grilled fish, sun-soaked vegetables in olive oil, and the famous sweet-tart, Tropézienne, dishes are colourful and cooked simply to reflect the area’s rich variety.

Already established on the Cote D’Azur at his three-Michelin-starred Mirazur in Menton, Colagreco is a cook unrestrained by borders and one who sets his own culinary rules. This ambitious project is a further opportunity for the globally acclaimed chef to showcase his culinary vision and continue to place the region at the forefront of the international gastronomic scene. At The Maybourne Riviera, he will mix this with one of his favourite playgrounds, the sea and hopefully, through careful participation, will help safeguard the diversity of its marine heritage.

The chef is honoured to be working on this new devlopment. “I am extremely proud to be a player in this unique project in The Maybourne Riviera and with a hotel group recognised around the world for its quality and excellence. It is a wonderful setting for guests to enjoy all that is so exceptional about this area of the Mediterranean.”

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Photos: Matteo Carassale