“Michelin stars or being No 1 is only the beginning, not the end.”
Passion, pride and persistence are key to Spanish-Italian chef, Mauro Colagreco’s cooking and success.
Chef Mauro Colagreco unabashedly confesses that he cried tears of joy when his restaurant Mirazur received his three Michelin stars and in 2019 the numero uno spot at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019. But the celebrated chef of Spanish-Italian lineage does not cook for critical acclaim. “The joy of cooking is most important. I started cooking out of passion. The power of both these awards is very strong and is great for my business but not for my ego,” he says, his eyes twinkling, as he talks about his passion for cooking and how he began. He grew up in Argentina and studied literature before discovering that his real joy lay somewhere else—in food. He smiles generously as young chefs at the St Regis hotel gush
over his achievements and his status as the uncrowned king of the culinary universe—as the world’s best chef. After a threeyear-long pursuit, Colagreco arrived in India for a short visit to Mumbai’s St Regis hotel shortly before lockdown, to recreate his signature dining experience as part of the Masters of Marriott programme that brings chefs from the world over to engage with local chefs and exchange ideas.
Mirazur in Menton offers breathtaking views of the Cote de Azur and stands 50 kilometers from the Italy-France border. The scenic vistas of the French Riviera, the cascading vegetable gardens, the ultimate three Michelin stars and the reigning number one title on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants make it a much desired restaurant to visit when in France. When Mirazur first made it to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2009, just three years after it opened, his restaurant went booked out for a year and when it became the first restaurant in the world to get a plastic-free certification, Colagreco got some “200 calls” to ask how they managed it. “Recognition gives you an opportunity to pass on a message and make a big change,” says the chef.
Colagreco enjoys working with fresh, seasonal produce, preferably the one that grows in his sprawling gardens. The longest-surviving dish on his menu is a salt-crusted beetroot with caviar cream which he has been whipping up for the past three years. The rest of his culinary creations have shorter life spans, sometimes even just one day. “I work with fresh produce where the ingredient is at its peak.”
Working in the kitchens of some of the most celebrated French chefs like Bernard Loiseau, Alain Passard, Alain Ducasse and Guy Martin, not only honed his cooking skills and techniques but also allowed him to witness defining moments in French cuisine. Loiseau, who had a “strong influence” on his career showed him how to focus on the real flavours of the ingredients and with Passard, he learnt to create magic with ingredients. “It was a huge revolution in French cuisine
when he left all meats to cook only with vegetables. He could look at a single onion and make a wonderful dish out of it,” he adds.
Passion over prizes
A year after he opened Mirazur in 2006, Colagreco earned his first Michelin star and in 2009, he won the ‘Chef of the Year’ title by the prestigious Gault and Millau restaurant guide becoming the first non-French chef to have received the title, besides making an entry into the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. While the appreciation drives his business, it doesn’t impact his menu. He learnt an important lesson early on in his career—to cook only for love. In 2003, he was a demi-chef de partie at Loiseau’s restaurant when the highly acclaimed chef committed suicide, allegedly out of fear of losing one of his three Michelin stars. “This gave me a completely different perspective about Michelin stars, awards and their pressures. I love to cook; I don’t cook for stars and awards. For me, Michelin stars and being number 1 is only the beginning; it’s not the end.”
Beyond Boundaries
Ask him which cuisine he specialises in and Colagreco refuses to be “put into a box”. “I am influenced by more than 30 cultures; I’ve been all over the world and I know that food is that one language that makes communication easy. When you sit at a table, food lends emotion and emotions are never French, Italian or Indian,” says the chef of Italian-Spanish lineage who grew up in Argentina, married a Brazilian, trained with some of the best French chefs and now works in the world’s leading gastronomic destination with a multi-nationality team of chefs. His creations in the kitchen are determined by what grows in his three-hectare large garden that looks out towards the Mediterranean Sea. Peas are his favourite vegetable and often find their way into his food, as also citrus fruits that grow in plenty in his garden. So there have been times when different tables at Mirazur serve different menus, “Since it’s all grown in our garden, we may not have enough of one ingredient for all the guests,” he says.
Chef at Heart
During his short visit to Mumbai, Colagreco recreated some of his signature dishes using local ingredients and even included a dash of Indian spices. “Indian cuisine has the largest variety and diversity of ingredients,” he says. He runs 10 restaurants around the world and a ‘lab kitchen’ for research and innovation in food but refuses to call himself an entrepreneur. “I am a chef and I wear that hat proudly even today,” he confesses.