A host of iconic culinary luminaries from Monaco’s top restaurants will be pairing up with contemporaries from around the world at this autumn’s Festival des Etoilés. Monaco Life brings you the programme.
Now in its third year, the Festival des Etoilés – the “Festival of the Starred” – from Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer has well-established itself as a showcase of exceptional culinary talent and creativity.
It attracts the finest chefs working within the Principality, as well as a number of international figures, who pair up to host exclusive dining experiences during the autumn months, with the event culminating in an unmissable Lumières d’Etoiles gala.
This year, that special event will be taking place in the Salle Empire of the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo on 11th November, but there is a lot more planned before that.
À QUATRE MAINS
The concept of the festival is to pair a Monaco-based head chef at a SBM establishment with a Michelin-starred chef who runs a restaurant of legendary status elsewhere in the world. The duo then collaborate, working together to create both a menu that is entirely unique and a gastronomic experience found nowhere else on the planet.
THE MYTH, THE LEGENEDS
Kicking off the 2023 edition is Marcel Ravin, the two Michelin-starred head chef of the Blue Bay at Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Chef Julien Royer, the three Michelin-starred head chef of Odette in Singapore who was due to take part in the event, will not be present however he will be represented by his talented chef of the Odette restaurant as well as a chef from the Michelin-starred Claudine restaurant, in Hong Kong.
They will work together to offer an exceptional menu on two successive evenings on 29th and 30th September on the Las Brisas terrace that costs €690 per person including champagne pairings.
Then it will be the turn of the Hôtel de Paris for two nights featuring the executive chef of the three Michelin-starred Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse, Dominique Lory, and Jason Atherton of the one-starred Pollen Street Social in London on 13th and 14th October at Le Grill. The price per person here is €450, including a complimentary glass of champagne.
The address remains the same, but the restaurant changes for one of the most – if not the most – awaited pairing on 27th and 28th October. The famous Alain Ducasse himself, a mentor and inspiration to countless haute cuisine chefs around the globe, will oversee two services created by head chefs of two of his finest restaurants: Emmanuel Pilon of Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse and Amaury Bouhours of the two-starred Le Meurice Alain Ducasse in Paris. This experience is priced at €900 per person with Dom Pérignon champagne pairings.
The final ‘Dîner à Quatre Mains‘ will be held at Pavyllon Monte-Carlo in the Hôtel Hermitage. Here, the one Michelin-starred restaurant and its enigmatic Chef Yannick Alléno will welcome Sven Wassmer of the three-starred Memories in Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, for one special service on 3rd November that costs €650 per person with wine.
An extravagant gala, featuring Alain Ducasse, Marcel Ravin, Yannick Alleno and Dominique Lory all cooking in front of guests at the Salle Empire at the Hôtel de Paris, will close the food festival on 11th November. The black tie event is priced at €850 per person, with each of SBM’s prized chefs serving a menu of their signature dishes.
For more information and how to reserve, please click here.
To read more about the festival and the incredible 2022 edition, as well as view images from the closing gala, please see below:
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Photo by Monaco Life