From Provence to the French Riviera: The Restaurants That Matter

Top Restaurants in the PACA Region

From Marseille to Menton

1. La Table du Castellet | Hôtel & Spa du Castellet, Var

Nestled between Sainte-Baume and the Var coast, the gourmet restaurant at the Hôtel & Spa du Castellet (5 stars) showcases a more sculpted side of Provence, naturally infused with maritime accents and botanical aromas. At the helm, Chef Fabien Ferré—honored with three Michelin stars—orchestrates a precise cuisine driven by emotion and a deep respect for the ingredients. The dishes, refined and technically masterful, border on pure art, yet the cuisine remains deeply rooted in the Provençal terroir, inspired as much by his family heritage as by the high standards of local producers.

Guests can choose from three menus, each with a distinct identity: “Expression végétale,” an ode to Provençal vegetables (starting at 190 euros per person), “Expression Marine,” to savor the delights of the Mediterranean Sea (starting at 230 euros per person); and “Symbiose,” a gourmet eight-course menu featuring ingredients from land and sea (380 euros per person). The setting combines understated elegance with a cozy atmosphere: whether dining outdoors under the arbors or behind the large floor-to-ceiling windows of a minimalist dining room, guests dine surrounded by the resort’s immaculately maintained grounds. A must-visit destination for lovers of southern French haute cuisine.

2. Allegria! | Hameau des Baux 

Having honed her skills in the kitchens of Maison PIC*** in Valence, renowned establishments (Le Louis XV***, Le Grill*, La Bastide de Moustiers*), and the Benoit bistro in New York, Julie Chaix now leads the kitchen at Hameau des Baux. Here, the focus isn’t on Michelin-starred haute cuisine, but rather on creating gourmet, sustainable dishes and, above all, showcasing the rich local flavors of her native region.

Nestled within a Provençal olive grove and lulled by the song of cicadas lies a hamlet straight out of a Marcel Pagnol novel: Le Hameau des Baux. This hotel in Provence is home to two restaurants sharing the same culinary identity. At the bistro Allegria!—literally “joy” in Italian—the chef crafts a vibrant cuisine that shines thanks to the quality of its sourcing: locally sourced ingredients from organic farmers in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, lamb from Sisteron, and peaches from the Camargue. The concise menu, available at any time of day, is crafted based on the day’s market offerings and changes according to the availability of ingredients. The second restaurant, La Petite Guinguette, is located in the heart of the Provençal hamlet’s square, right next to the fountain. In the shade of the plane trees, facing the chapel, guests can enjoy Mediterranean cuisine that perfectly complements the warm atmosphere. A carefully curated playlist and twinkling string lights: the guinguette spirit is brought to life every evening by the chef’s convivial cuisine, featuring tapas and wood-fired grilled dishes, perfect for sharing with friends or family.

The first property in the “Les Petites Maisons” collection offers a setting that invites you to relax and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. The accommodations, designed like guesthouses with their spacious layouts, are spread across the renovated mazets and a six-bedroom villa available for rent.

A common thread throughout the property: art that graces every room and the common areas. Temporary exhibitions are also held on the premises.

Allegria!
Les Petites Maisons - Hameau des Baux 
Dinner menu starting at 65 euros per person
27 rooms, rates starting at 392 euros per night
285 Chemin de Bourgeac, Paradou
Official website of the establishment

3. La Cuisine d’Amélie | Domaine de Fontenille

Nestled in the heart of Domaine de Fontenille—a charming 4-star hotel surrounded by vineyards in the Luberon—this bright restaurant pays homage to an intuitive, plant-based Provence with sustainable, local, and decidedly contemporary cuisine. Housed in an elegantly restored 17th-century bastide, La Cuisine d’Amélie draws its identity first and foremost from the estate’s large permaculture garden, where vegetables, fruits, herbs, and edible flowers thrive. Chef Olivier Scola uses these ingredients with great care to create dishes that are always easy to appreciate, celebrating the produce with thoughtful simplicity: bold colors, precise cooking techniques, and clean flavors that evoke the garrigue… The appetizers are fresh (crispy tuna with basil, seasonal vegetable salad…) and the main courses celebrate pure indulgence: you’ll be just as tempted by the Fontenille Burger as by the seared scallops with butternut squash! It’s approachable, perfectly executed, and as gentle as a summer morning in the Luberon.

The estate’s wines naturally complement the dishes, and the entire experience is enjoyed in a charming setting: a minimalist dining room with rustic touches, or a superb terrace surrounded by greenery.  La Cuisine d’Amélie is a sustainable restaurant that captures the essence of Provence without fanfare, with the characteristic grace of the Fontenille collection. It’s a place where you’ll happily linger.

La Cuisine d’Amélie
Domaine de Fontenille
Dishes starting at 27 euros
21 rooms, rates starting at 250 euros per night
Route de Roquefraiche, Lauris
Official website

4. La Table de La Bastide | La Bastide de Marie

In Ménerbes, La Table de la Bastide is a Provençal restaurant that embodies the spirit of a family home, where cuisine blends naturally into the landscape, in true dolce vita style. Chef François Martin’s recipes are inspired by the harvests from the vegetable garden and vineyards surrounding this charming boutique hotel from the Sibuet collection. The dishes strike a balance between Provençal richness and contemporary freshness, showcasing beautiful seasonal colors: organic eggs with vegetables from the garden, risotto with caper blossoms… It’s a restaurant that embodies warmth and generosity.

At lunchtime, guests dine on the idyllic terrace bordering the vineyards, in the shade of a majestic linden tree. In the evening, lanterns illuminate the outdoor space, and the meal takes on a romantic atmosphere under an arbor crafted by a local metalworker. The service is attentive without being stuffy; conversations flow freely, and you’ll wish the moment could last all summer long… La Table de la Bastide is a bright, lively spot, perfect for those seeking simple, hearty cuisine enhanced by its natural setting.

La Table de la Bastide
La Bastide de Marie
Lunch menu at 75 euros per person, dinner menu at 100 euros per person
17 rooms, rates starting at 460 euros per night
64, chemin des Peirelles, Ménerbes
Official website of the establishment

5. La Bastide | Hôtel Capelongue, a Beaumier Hotel

In Bonnieux, the one-star restaurant La Bastide reimagines Provençal cuisine with a uniquely vibrant contemporary flair. An iconic destination in the Luberon, this Michelin-starred restaurant is driven by the talent of Chef Noël Bérard, who reimagines Provence and its local terroir through two tasting menus, one of which is entirely plant-based. 

The cuisine plays with textures, colors, and aromas to create vibrant, generous dishes that are firmly rooted in the season. Sorgue trout, Mediterranean langoustine, Luberon cheeses, Gordes veal… Local produce isn’t just a pretext—it’s the foundation of everything. This Luberon restaurant serves modern haute cuisine without compromising the Provençal spirit; rather, it elevates it with subtle, measured creativity. The dining experience is enhanced by a truly magical terrace at sunset—with sweeping views of the valleys. Quite simply one of the most exciting restaurants around right now!

The Capelongue estate also features a wood-fired restaurant at La Bergerie, as well as beautiful rooms and suites—perfect for extending your experience in the heart of the Provençal countryside.

La Bastide 
Capelongue, a Beaumier Hotel
Lunch menu: 95 euros; dinner menus starting at 165 euros
57 rooms, rates starting at 271 euros per night
550, Chemin des Cabanes, Bonnieux

6. AM by Alexandre Mazzia, Marseille

Awarded three Michelin stars (in January 2021), named Chef of the Year in 2019, and honored with 5 toques in 2020 by Gault & Millau, Alexandre Mazzia is the driving force behind Marseille’s vibrant gastronomic scene. Born in the Congo, this travel enthusiast expresses his love for the marine world in every dish, creating unique and often memorable combinations. 

Cooking techniques, textures, and temperatures—the “Grand Voyage” menu strikes the perfect balance between the sea and the plant kingdom, revealing a particularly inventive and daring signature cuisine. Among the signature dishes is a surprising vegetable biscotte with flowers and a raspberry-harissa condiment, chocolate and smoked eel, and wild trout and salmon roe marinated in sake and smoked milk. Enough to surprise even the most seasoned food connoisseur. 

In the picturesque Prado neighborhood, a small dining room with minimalist decor that highlights the purity of the materials: raw concrete, wooden sculptures, a counter made of century-old oak, hardwood floors, leather armchairs…

AM by Alexandre Mazzia
Menu starting at 115 euros per person
9 Rue François Rocca, Marseille

7. La Villa Madie, Cassis

Dimitri Droisneau, a three-Michelin-starred chef from Normandy at La Villa Madie, cut his teeth in prestigious Parisian restaurants (La Tour d’Argent, Le Bristol, Lucas Carton, L’Ambroisie…), imbuing his cuisine with impeccable finesse. Mastery and sensitivity are at the heart of his dishes, which are as gourmet as one could wish for. The South, with which he has ultimately fallen in love, infuses his culinary vision and inspires a top-tier Provençal menu. 

The menu is short and seasonal, promising an exceptional gastronomic experience. The Anse de Corton, where La Villa Madie is comfortably situated, serves as the muse for this purely local cuisine, where tuna, John Dory, and other shellfish are universally acclaimed. The sea as a vegetable garden and the freshness of the landscape are beautifully captured in the region’s specialties, creatively reimagined—from local sardines to red mullet and carabineros shrimp, served in a tartlet with seasonal red berries. 

Facing Cap Canaille, La Villa Madie enjoys a privileged location. The blue of the Mediterranean unfolds as a majestic panorama from the restaurant’s terrace. The view takes you on a journey just as much as the chef’s dishes do.

La Villa Madie
Menu starting at 195 euros per person
30, avenue du Revestel, Cassis

8. La Vague d’Or | Cheval Blanc, Saint-Tropez

The grandson of farmers and son of delicatessen owners, Arnaud Donckele has risen to the highest echelons of French gastronomy. Now a three-Michelin-starred chef, with 5 toques and the title of 2020 Chef of the Year from Gault & Millau, he heads La Vague d’Or at the ultra-luxurious Cheval Blanc hotel in Saint-Tropez. He also oversees the gourmet restaurant at Cheval Blanc Paris, a Parisian luxury hotel on the banks of the Seine.

Described as a bucolic journey through the Mediterranean, Arnaud Donckele’s cuisine celebrates the richness of Provençal gastronomy, featuring uncompromising land-and-sea pairings, such as this Claudette-style rabbit saddle rolled in country-style bacon with blue lobster, caramelized shallots, and chanterelle mushrooms with chestnut honey. 

A bright, minimalist dining room, whose interior design was entrusted to the renowned Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Outside, a magnificent terrace where you can dine under umbrella pines while admiring the view of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.

La Vague d'Or
Cheval Blanc Saint Tropez
Menu starting at 480 euros per person
32 rooms, rates starting at 750 euros per night
Bouillabaisse Beach, Saint-Tropez

9. La Voile | La Réserve Ramatuelle

Considered one of the great pioneers of healthy and natural cuisine, two-Michelin-starred chef Éric Canino—a disciple of Michel Guérard—continues his quest for “simple” luxury, perfectly in keeping with the spirit of La Réserve Ramatuelle, the contemporary luxury hotel on the Saint-Tropez peninsula. With understated elegance, he succeeds in restoring the prestige of a culinary tradition that has been unfairly dismissed as bland and lacking in substance. 

On the plate, the quintessence of Provençal terroir prepared with ethereal grace: fish, olive oil, as well as fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs picked directly from the garden of La Réserve’s vast estate. Don’t miss: the Garden Menu, which showcases produce in all its (most beautiful) forms, from appetizer to dessert.

A magnificent terrace overlooking the sea, where the sheer curtains flutter at the slightest breeze. Inside, immaculate white seating, understated colors, and huge floor-to-ceiling windows offering one of the most beautiful views of the Mediterranean coast. Sublime.

La Voile
La Réserve Ramatuelle
Rates starting at 195 euros per night
27 rooms, rates starting at 1,250 euros per night
736, chemin des Crètes, Ramatuelle

10. La Villa Archange, Le Cannet

After honing his skills at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Bangkok and under three-Michelin-starred chef Georges Blanc, Bruno Oger arrived on the French Riviera, first at the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, then at Villa Archange, where he earned one star and then two. Located in Le Cannet in the Cannes hinterland, just a few minutes from the Croisette, he carefully avoids the frenzy of the culinary star system to devote himself entirely to his cuisine. This does not prevent him from serving as the official chef for the most prestigious official dinners of the Cannes Film Festival.

A marvelous fusion of the French Riviera and his native Brittany, as exemplified by these juicy pan-seared abalones from the Île de Groix served with artichokes; Gillardeau oysters, Petrossian caviar, and yellowtail with peppermint; veal chop and sweetbreads cooked to perfection, drizzled with a stunning spiced cooking jus… A true culinary highlight. 

An 18th-century country house with the feel of a private mansion, located a few kilometers from Cannes. Set in a vast 5,000- square-meter park, guests can dine on the terrace beneath a majestic century-old tree, or inside the charmingly bourgeois interior: light-colored hardwood floors, white tablecloths, paintings, and antique furniture… Chic without being flashy, elegant without trying to impress.

La Villa Archange
Menu starting at 120 euros per person
Rue de l'Ouest, Le Cannet