Whitebook: Mirazur | Mauro Colagreco

From Modest To

the art of cuisine no.5

Michelin

Chef Mauro Colagreco will be the first to say that his two-Michelin culinary career began with his grandmother Amalia, who “made me love cooking.” This year, his Côte d’Azur restaurant Mirazur leapt an astounding 17 places to place 11th on Restaurant magazine’s vaunted World’s 50 Best Restaurants list a reflection of how Colagreco is constantly revolutionising his modern French presentations. These affirmations join a long list of awards amassed by a chef whose training began modestly at the Gao Dumas hotel school in Buenos Aires, where his handiwork contributed to some of the most prestigious names in the city such as Catalinas, Rey Castro, Mariani and Azul Profundo. Taking it upon himself to navigate strategically through the highest stratospheres of the fine dining culinary road map, he set his sights on the culinary capital of the world straight out of hotel school in 2001. In Paris, he trained first with Bernard Loiseau, then later held posts at L’Arpège with Alain Passard and served as demi-chef de partie to Alain Ducasse at Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

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An Argentine of Italian and Spanish descent, Colagreco’s dishes may have been perfected under the most acclaimed chefs in the industry, but still embody the wild and imaginative roots of a Latin American heritage. Here is a chef who understands and celebrates quality ingredients, basing his preparations and techniques on evoking the delicate dance between nature and nurture.

Colagreco’s innate obsession with the best ingredients from France, Italy and the Mediterranean Sea – Mirazur is located at the confluence of these three geographies in Menton on the Cote d’Azur –produces dishes that both surprise and delight featuring seafood barely hours from the water and bounty from the

Culinary

Confidential

restaurant’s organic garden. In Mirazur’s signature dish, simplicity is balanced with erudite touches in a blue lobster paired with cacao bean, finished in a bed of chamomile-infused consommé.

Pretension is markedly left behind, in a dining room where the only detected decadence is what Colagreco serves on distinguished white plates. The setting is relatively unadorned, as diners are treated to 360° visages of the spectacular Mediterranean shores. It is this invigorating landscape that keeps Colagreco in his kitchen whenever possible – one is assured that more often than not, the chef is personally overseeing the serving of Mirazur’s dégustation and daily evolving menus at any time.

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★ Mauro Colagreco ★

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Colagreco’s cuisine is an intricate one, drawn from a multitude of influences that require constant introspection and reinvention. This daring belief that tradition is in constant flux with innovation, brings Colagreco to UNICO in Shanghai, situated alongside another breathtaking view of one of the world’s most up-and-coming cities. UNICO is a Latin soul lounge, designed by Argentine architect Marcelo Joulia, and it is against this shared Latin-infused aesthetic that both artists showcase their design and culinary creations. The menu is inspired by Mirazur but has slowly incorporated the local products, flavours and culture of its sibling’s Chinese hometown. True to Colagreco’s “intimacy with nature” philosophy a farm 60 kilometres from the Shanghai city centre leased by the chef delivers a variety of organic fruit and vegetables everyday to ensure maximum freshness and taste. From the glittering coasts of the Mediterranean to the hustle and bustle of a city like Shanghai, Colagreco remains predisposed for simplicity. His belief in “true” ingredients is an intercontinental one and with that, he will no doubt

Imagining A Delicate Balance

plant the seeds of his culinary concoctions in more gardens to come.

Photophy = Mirazur

Text = Nicole Chan

Of Intimate Innovation

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