French | Gastronomic | Mediterranean | Provençale | Seafood
Services
Access for people with disabilities | Accomodation | Private Parking | Terrace | Valet parking
Style
Exceptional setting | On the beach | Romantic
Budget(€)
Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)
175 to 250
Gault&Millau's review2026
Here, time stands still. Les Belles Rives still has the fragrance of the Roaring Twenties, when Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald laughed their way down the terrace, surrounded by artists and writers. The piano danced the Charleston (it still does today), champagne bubbles burst in cadence, and the belle bleue, below, gave rhythm to the party. And then there's La Passagère in its Art Deco setting, with the terrace plunging into the sea. Aurélien Véquaud has been at the helm of this culinary vessel for the past eight years, sailing the terroir towards luminous horizons. In this picture-postcard setting, the chef creates a mature cuisine with the Mediterranean as its foundation: lisette scorched with a blowtorch, lacquered with tomato juices and colatura, and its tomato variations; scarlet gambon snacked with salamander and glazed coral velouté; or the "esquinado", crab in cannelloni, worked with gourmet intelligence on a crab-head juice reduced like a meat juice. Last but not least, the "pêche de ligne", a still-vibrant wolfish, lined with greenery and revealed by a "simple sauce" with caviar from the finest origins. Pastry chef Steve Moracchini, who will soon be sailing off to new horizons, offers a final salvo of Myriades et Étoiles, a tribute to the absinthe of the Roaring Twenties with liquid bonbon and suspended sorbet, raspberry and geranium served on a pedestal table in a fragrant mise-en-scène, and finally Honduran chocolate, declined in textures on a parfait glacé with lime and nepita. Service, worthy of a palace, is fluid and precise. Special mention must go to restaurant manager Damian Sanchez Perez, with his masterful ease, and head sommelier Aymerick Verdi, who passes on stories as well as wines. The cellar, with over 500 references, offers a precise exploration of French terroirs and a few fine international escapes. La Passagère is a time-travelling machine, pointing towards the future, towards this constantly renewed excellence.