Mauro Colagreco
🇦🇷 Argentina · Argentinian cuisine · b. 1976
The Argentine-born chef whose Mirazur on the French Riviera was named the World's Best Restaurant in 2019.
Biography
Mauro Colagreco is an Argentine chef and the owner of Mirazur, the cliffside restaurant in Menton on the French Riviera that in 2019 was named #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list — the first restaurant outside Europe-by-ownership and the first owned by a Latin American chef to take the top spot. Mirazur holds three Michelin stars (since 2019) and is also one of the first restaurants in the world to be awarded the Michelin Green Star for sustainability.
Colagreco was born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1976, of mixed Italian-Argentine heritage, and trained at the École Supérieure de Cuisine Française in Paris before doing stages in some of the most influential French kitchens of the early 2000s — under Bernard Loiseau at La Côte d'Or in Saulieu (he was there the morning Loiseau took his own life in 2003), Alain Passard at L'Arpège, and Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athénée. In 2006 he opened Mirazur in a small Art Deco building above the harbour of Menton, on the French side of the Italian border, with a kitchen team of three.
Mirazur earned its first Michelin star within six months of opening, a second in 2012, and the third in 2019 — the same year it was named #1 in the World's 50 Best list. Colagreco's cooking is built around the restaurant's three terraced gardens of vegetables, citrus and herbs, which now supply roughly 80% of the produce on the menu, and around the cultural ambiguity of the Franco-Italian border: 'in Menton you are neither in France nor in Italy, you are in Menton'. He has since expanded internationally with restaurants in Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong, London (Cycene), Dubai and Buenos Aires, as well as the Carne hamburger chain in Argentina.
Cooking Philosophy
Lunar gardening and border cuisine. Colagreco runs Mirazur on a four-cycle menu organised by the lunar calendar — fruit days, leaf days, root days, flower days — and the vast majority of produce comes from the restaurant's own terraced gardens above Menton. His cuisine deliberately refuses the France-vs-Italy distinction: the Riviera, he argues, is one cultural region split by a 19th-century border, and Mirazur's menu is what cooking there has always been.
Restaurants
- MirazurMenton, France
Flagship; three Michelin stars (since 2019); Michelin Green Star; #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2019).
- CyceneShoreditch, London
Opened 2022 inside the Blue Mountain School; one Michelin star.
- Côte by Mauro ColagrecoBangkok
French Mediterranean menu inside the Capella Bangkok hotel; one Michelin star.
- Pollen StreetLondon / Singapore
Mauro Colagreco's restaurant in the Raffles Hotel Singapore.
- CarneArgentina (multiple)
Sustainable hamburger chain founded by Colagreco in La Plata in 2016, now in multiple Argentine cities.
Awards & Recognition
- 3 Michelin stars (Mirazur, since 2019)
- Michelin Green Star (Mirazur)
- #1 The World's 50 Best Restaurants (Mirazur, 2019)
- Chef of the Year, Gault Millau France (2009) — the first foreign-born chef to win
- Best Chef of the World, The Best Chef Awards (2019)
Iconic Dishes
Cookbooks
- Mirazur (2017, Phaidon)
- Mauro Colagreco: Vegetables (2021)
- Pasta Grannies x Mauro Colagreco — contributor
Recipes in Mauro's Style
These recipes from our database reflect the argentinian cooking tradition that Mauro works in. They are not direct reproductions of Mauro's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
In Mauro's Own Words
“In Menton you are neither in France nor in Italy. You are in Menton.”
— Mirazur cookbook (2017)
“I do not have a menu. I have a garden.”
— Interview, The World's 50 Best Restaurants
Career Timeline
Begins his culinary training in La Plata, Argentina.
Moves to France to study at the École Supérieure de Cuisine Française in Paris.
Stages at La Côte d'Or in Saulieu under Bernard Loiseau; is in the kitchen on the morning of Loiseau's suicide.
Opens Mirazur in Menton, on the French side of the Italian border, with a team of three.
Mirazur awarded its first Michelin star, less than a year after opening.
Named Chef of the Year by Gault Millau France — the first foreign-born chef to win the title.
Mirazur awarded a second Michelin star.
Mirazur awarded three Michelin stars and named #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list — the first Latin American-owned restaurant ever to take the top spot.
Reorganises Mirazur's menu around the lunar calendar.
Opens Cycene in London (one Michelin star) and Côte in Bangkok (one Michelin star).
Mentors & Influences
Frequently Asked Questions about Mauro Colagreco
Where is Mirazur?
Mirazur is on the Avenue Aristide Briand in Menton, France — the last town on the French Riviera before the Italian border. It is housed in a 1930s Art Deco building on a cliff above the harbour, with three terraced gardens climbing the hillside above it that supply roughly 80% of the restaurant's produce.
Was Mirazur really named the world's best restaurant?
Yes. Mirazur was ranked #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019. It was the first restaurant owned by a Latin American chef ever to take the top spot. Mirazur was subsequently moved to the 'Best of the Best' hall of fame and is no longer eligible for the main list.
What is the lunar menu at Mirazur?
Since 2020 Mirazur has organised its menu around the lunar calendar developed by the biodynamic gardener Maria Thun: fruit days, leaf days, root days and flower days. The kitchen runs four parallel tasting menus, one for each lunar phase, with the produce on each menu drawn from the corresponding category in the gardens that day.
Is Mauro Colagreco French or Argentine?
He was born in La Plata, Argentina, of mixed Italian-Argentine heritage, and remains an Argentine national. He has lived in France since 2001 and his flagship restaurant Mirazur is in Menton on the French Riviera, but he describes his cuisine as a product of the border between cultures rather than a single national tradition.
What is Carne?
Carne is a chain of sustainable hamburger restaurants Colagreco founded in his home town of La Plata in 2016. It uses grass-fed beef from Argentine pampas producers, compostable packaging and a closed-loop waste system, and has since expanded to multiple Argentine cities. It is his only restaurant project in Argentina under his own name.
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