On a recent visit to Macau, the Italian-Argentine chef who helms the #1 restaurant on the World’s 50 Best list took some time to chat at his MGM Cotai restaurant, Grill 58
Menton, on the picturesque Cote d’Azur, is the final French frontier before travellers step into Italy—and yet an unlikely destination for anyone except the most dedicated of culinary tourists. Previously best known for its abundance of citrus, the tiny French Riviera town (population: just south of 30,000) was suddenly thrust into the limelight following the crowning of Mirazur as the “world’s best restaurant”, according to the annual 50 Best Restaurants list for 2019. As for Mauro Colagreco, the man behind the three Michelin starred restaurant, he became the first non-French chef to pick up the accolade—a real vindication for an Argentinian (with Italian roots) who spent much of his early years proving himself in the vicious environment of top French kitchens.
“To open Mirazur was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken,” says Colagreco. “But I wasn’t afraid at all.” This bold statement doesn’t come from a position of arrogance—the reason why he thinks he was able to go out on a limb was because he was “young and inexperienced”. This comes out lightly, almost bashfully. It’s curious, considering the fact that before opening his Menton restaurant in 2006, Colagreco had already worked with some of the world’s greatest French chefs—among them, the highly respected yet ultimately ill-fated Bernard Loiseau of La Côte d'Or, who committed suicide in 2003, fearing the loss of his restaurant's third Michelin star; Alain Passard of L’Arpège, known in culinary circles as ‘the godfather of vegetables’; and the legendary Alain Ducasse, who set him up for half a year as the garde manger chef de partie at his gilded Plaza Athénée restaurant in the City of Light.
(Related: Mirazur Restaurant's Mauro Colagreco Is The World’s Most Influential Chef, According To His Peers)