While Monaco revels in its Michelin star successes, the story is somewhat different over the border on the French Riviera, where some of the region’s most recognisable names in dining have been downgraded by the 2025 Guide or have closed entirely. Nevertheless, some incredible South of France restaurants have been rewarded, including Mareluna at the Château de Théoule and Auberge Quintessence to the north of Monaco.
Some 68 restaurants across France are celebrating the awarding of one, two or three Michelin stars in the 2025 edition of the famous guide.
The two at the top, Hugo Roellinger’s Le Coquillage in Cancale and Christopher Coutanceau in La Rochelle, have claimed an impressive three stars each. One is a former officer in the merchant navy, while the other describes himself as a “chef-fisherman”. Both have deep connections to the sea, which plays out in the cuisine served in their Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes and La Rochelle restaurants.
More locally, the “sun-drenched” cuisine of Chef Fanny Rey and Jonathan Wahid’s L’Auberge de Saint-Rémy in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence has earned two Michelin stars, setting the restaurant among just nine addresses to be awarded such an accolade in the 2025 Guide. Another is L’Abysse Monte-Carlo in the Hôtel Hermitage, the brainchild of Chef Yannick Alléno and Sushi Master Yasunari Okazaki.
Among the 57 new one-star restaurants in France, a healthy portion of them are in the Côte d’Azur and the wider southern reaches of the country.
On the coast, Cannes’ La Palme d’Or picked up a star, as did Théoule-sur-Mer’s Mareluna under Chef Francesco Fezza, Saint-Tropez’s Arnaud Donckele & Maxime Frédéric at Louis Vuitton and Marseille’s Belle de Mars.
Further inland, Roubion’s Auberge Quintessence, around an hour and 45 minutes to the north of Monaco, is also celebrating a new star, along with Chez Jeannette in Flassans-sur-Issole in the Var. Aix-en-Provence’s Étude and Barbentane’s Ineffable, both in the Bouches-du-Rhône, have earned one star in the latest edition of the guide, as well as JU – Maison de Cuisine in Bonnieux, Vaucluse.
Meanwhile, a number of well-known culinary establishments in the south of France have disappeared from the Michelin Guide altogether. While Le Saint-Martin in Vence has suffered the worst by losing its star, La Table de Patrick Raingeard in Èze and Ceto in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin have been shuttered for good. The General Director of the Maybourne Riviera, the former home of Ceto, has reportedly described the closing of the restaurant as a “natural evolution”, while Chef Patrick Raingeard has left the five-star Hôtel Cap-Estel on good terms after 13 years to “explore new horizons”.
Read related:
Michelin Guide 2024: New stars awarded to French Riviera restaurants
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Main photo of Mareluna Théoule-sur Mer, credit: Cedou Cedou via Château de Théoule