Image by ONICE

The Michelin Guide has finally revealed the list of the restaurants that conquered the stars during the highly anticipated 2024 edition. This year, the French Riviera has proven again as a top culinary destination, with four prestigious new additions to its already long list of starred restaurants. Among the honorees, three are located along the Riviera and one in the heart of the Principality of Monaco. Here are the culinary establishments that received this distinction:

– Les Ambassadeurs, Monaco – Two stars

– Bessem, Mandelieu-la-Napoule – One star

– ONICE, Nice – One star

– Racines by Bruno Cirino, Nice – One star

Opened in the 1920s as a restaurant for Hotel Metropole, Les Ambassadeurs quickly became a landmark of French gastronomy, attracting local Monegasque and international clientele. Today the restaurant, led by the refined chef Christophe Cussac – a man of high standards and precision – continues to amaze with a cuisine that reinterprets Mediterranean flavors and French culinary art in a contemporary gourmet style. 

Les Ambassadeurs Chef Christophe Cussac. Image by Hotel Metropole. 

Image by Hotel Metropole. 

Besides Les Ambassadeurs, Cussac also manages the Michelin-starred Yoshi and Odyssey, blending authenticity and technique to create true culinary masterpieces. Les Ambassadeurs is not just a restaurant but a sensory experience that celebrates local culinary traditions with a modern twist, maintaining its historical legacy while reaching new heights of excellence. The restaurant’s website describes the service as a “choreographed performance, a theatrical script where everything is personalized and enacted in multiple acts.” The tasting menu, called “Fines Bouchées,” comprises 13 courses that allow guests to craft their gustatory journey, offering a wide range of flavors in the same evening.

Restaurant Bessem, a true haven of peace at the gates of Cannes, is run by chef Bessem Ben Abdallah. Located just steps from the Hotel de Ville and the center of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, this enchanting place amid greenery offers a beautiful place to relax while savoring the culinary delights. Among tree-lined terraces, stone fountains, the chirping of cicadas, and the shade of plane trees, all senses—not just taste—will receive a special treat. 

Bessem interior and exterior dining room. Image by Bessem.

Chef Bessem Ben Abdallah

Bessem Ben Abdallah was an executive chef for Pierre Gagnaire at Les Airelles in Courchevel, then at the Hotel Lana in Courchevel, and Spondi in Athens. After this prestigious career, he moved to the south of France to open his restaurant in Mandelieu-la-Napoule. A member of the Collège Culinaire de France, Bessem is dedicated to offering seasonal, simple, and effective gastronomic cuisine.

ONICE is a gastronomic experience born from the partnership of chefs Florencia and Lorenzo and the culinary dream they brought to life together. This tasty universe sprang from the fusion of two passionate personalities and two complementary experiences that enrich each other.

Chefs Florencia and Lornezo. Image by ONICE.

Image by ONICE.

This dual-soul restaurant in Nice is committed to respecting the territory and traditions. Ingredients sourced from local artisan producers and markets are treated with passion and creativity to offer a carte blanche menu of 5 or 7 courses, aligned with natural cycles. Thus, the dishes change daily to ensure freshness and seasonality.

The latest restaurant to earn its star soon after its opening by chef Bruno Cirino in Nice in early February 2020. Racines celebrates vegetables and greens with particular dedication to freshness and seasonality. Following the success of Hostellerie Jérôme and Café de la Fontaine in La Turbie, on the heights of Monaco, Cirino has inaugurated Racines in Nice as a unique establishment dedicated to prioritizing organic vegetables and local produce, thanks to long-standing collaborations with regional organic farmers and gardeners.

Bruno CIRINO Racines Restaurant. Image by Bruno CIRINO.

Image @OFR

Daily, Cirino shops from local producers or, as the locals say, “he whispers to the plants”, then returns to his kitchen with the freshest and most tasty vegetables to create dishes that vary according to the day’s availability, carefully assembled by his expert hands. The gastronomic offering is a true culinary “garden” where each dish is a homage to vegetables treated with utmost attention to enhance their natural flavors, accompanied by wine pairings selected from family-run wineries.

These four stars add to the extensive list of starred restaurants between the Maritime Alps, the Principality of Monaco, and the Var. Here is the complete list:

3 stars

– Mirazur, Menton

– Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel de Paris, Monaco

– La Vague d’Or – Cheval Blanc, St-Tropez

– La Table du Castellet – Le Castellet

2 stars

– Villa Archange, Le Cannet

– La Chèvre d’Or, Èze

– Flaveur, Nice

– Blue Bay, Monaco

– La Voile, Ramatuelle

1 star

– Le Figuier de Saint-Esprit, Antibes

– Château Eza, Èze

– Louroc, Antibes

– Les Pêcheurs, Cap d’Antibes

– Restaurant des Rois, Beaulieu-sur-Mer

– Les Terraillers, Biot

– Alain Llorca, La Colle-sur-Loup

– La Table de Patrick Raingeard, Èze-Bord-de-Mer

– La Passagère, Juan-les-Pins

– L’Aromate, Nice

– Les Agitateurs, Nice

– Le Chantecler Nice

– JAN, Nice

– Pure & V, Nice

– Ceto, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

– Le Cap, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

– L’Or Bleu, Théoule-sur-Mer

– Le Saint-Martin, Vence

– La Flibuste-Martin’s, Villeneuve-Loubet-Plage

– La Table d’Antonio Salvatore au Rampoldi, Monaco

– Le Grill, Monte-Carlo

– Yoshi, Monte-Carlo

– Pavyllon, a restaurant by Yannick Alléno, Monte-Carlo

– La Palmeraie – Château de Valmer – La Croix-Valmer

– Faventia Tourrettes

– Le Relais des Moines, Les Arcs

– L’Arbre au Soleil, Le Lavandou

– Bruno, Lorgues

– Le Jardin de Berne Lorgues

– Récif – Les Roches Rouges Saint-Raphaël

– Colette, St-Tropez

– La Terrasse – Cheval Blanc St-Tropez