Mauro Colagreco is the Argentine-Italian chef of Mirazur in Menton on the French Riviera, a three-Michelin-star restaurant that he has led since opening it in 2006. Born in La Plata, Argentina on 5 October 1976, Colagreco trained in France under Bernard Loiseau, Alain Passard, Alain Ducasse and Guy Martin before opening Mirazur at age 29. In 2019 he became the first chef not born in France to earn three Michelin stars in the French Michelin Guide.
Mirazur was named The World’s Best Restaurant in 2019 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and holds three Michelin stars, retained in the 2026 guide. Colagreco was the first chef ever named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for biodiversity in 2022, and Mirazur was the first restaurant in France to receive Plastic Free certification in 2020. To mark Mirazur’s 20-year anniversary in 2026, Colagreco has invited Ferran Adrià as gastronomic curator for a special anniversary menu running 1 April to 17 May 2026.
TL;DR
- Argentine-Italian chef born 5 October 1976 in La Plata, Argentina
- Chef-owner of Mirazur in Menton, France (opened 2006)
- Three Michelin stars since 2019, retained in the 2026 guide
- The World’s Best Restaurant 2019; Green Michelin Star 2020
- First chef named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for biodiversity (2022)
Mauro Colagreco key facts
| Born | 5 October 1976, La Plata, Argentina |
| Nationality | Argentine-Italian |
| Main restaurant | Mirazur, 30 Avenue Aristide Briand, Menton, France (opened 2006) |
| Michelin stars | Three at Mirazur since 2019; Green Michelin Star since 2020; two at Côte by Mauro Colagreco (Bangkok) since 2025 |
| Style | Mediterranean; biodynamic and lunar calendar menus (flowers, fruit, leaves, roots) |
| Training | Bernard Loiseau, Alain Passard (Arpège), Alain Ducasse (Plaza Athénée), Guy Martin (Le Grand Véfour) |
| Notable roles | UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for biodiversity (2022); Vice-President of Relais & Châteaux (2023); Knight of the Legion of Honour |
Early life and training of Mauro Colagreco
Colagreco was born on 5 October 1976 in La Plata, Argentina, to a family of Italian descent. He grew up in an Argentine-Italian household where food was central to family life, and has often credited his grandmother’s cooking as the first influence on his career. He studied economics before enrolling in culinary school in Argentina, and then moved to France in his twenties to train in the country’s most rigorous kitchens.
His French training was an almost systematic tour of the classical canon. He first worked under Bernard Loiseau at La Côte d’Or in Saulieu, staying until Loiseau’s death in February 2003, a period that shaped his understanding of discipline and ingredient sourcing. He then moved to Paris to work with Alain Passard at Arpège, where he absorbed Passard’s vegetable-first philosophy, followed by Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athénée, and finally spent a year at Le Grand Véfour under Guy Martin. Four of France’s most distinct three-star chefs in turn.
In 2006, at age 29, he opened Mirazur in a 1930s rotunda building on a hillside in Menton, on the French Riviera a few hundred metres from the Italian border. The building spreads over three levels and the elegant, light-drenched dining room commands a panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Recognition was immediate: Gault & Millau named Colagreco Revelation of the Year six months after Mirazur opened, and the restaurant earned its first Michelin star within a year.
Mauro Colagreco career timeline
- 5 October 1976: Born in La Plata, Argentina
- Early 2000s: Culinary training in Argentina, then moves to France
- 2001-2003: Works with Bernard Loiseau at La Côte d’Or in Saulieu
- 2003-2005: Trains at Arpège (Alain Passard), Plaza Athénée (Alain Ducasse) and Le Grand Véfour (Guy Martin)
- 2006: Opens Mirazur in Menton at age 29; Gault & Millau Revelation of the Year
- 2007: First Michelin star at Mirazur within a year of opening
- 2009: Mirazur enters The World’s 50 Best Restaurants at No. 35
- 2012: Second Michelin star at Mirazur
- 2017: Chef of the Year by Gault & Millau (first non-French chef ever)
- 2019: Third Michelin star at Mirazur, becoming the first non-French-born chef to earn three stars in the French Michelin Guide
- 2019: Mirazur named The World’s Best Restaurant
- 2020: Mirazur receives the Green Michelin Star; first restaurant in France to earn Plastic Free certification
- 2022: Named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for biodiversity, the first chef to receive the title
- January 2023: Appointed Vice-President (Chefs) of Relais & Châteaux
- 2025: Côte by Mauro Colagreco in Bangkok promoted to two Michelin stars; Knight of the Legion of Honour
- 2026: Three Michelin stars retained at Mirazur; 20-year anniversary menu with Ferran Adrià as gastronomic curator (1 April to 17 May); 11-suite eco-hotel scheduled to open
Mauro Colagreco signature style: lunar and biodynamic cuisine
The defining shift in Colagreco’s cuisine came when he moved Mirazur onto a lunar calendar. The menu rotates through four daily registers based on phases of the moon and biodynamic agricultural principles: flowers, fruit, leaves and roots. Each day the kitchen focuses on one of these four realms of nature, harvesting from Mirazur’s terraced gardens and composing dishes in accordance with the lunar phase. The restaurant’s gardens are farmed biodynamically, and the kitchen works around what is ready on the day rather than a fixed menu.
The approach is built on long-term commitments. Mirazur’s own bakery produces daily bread from ancient wheat varieties. The restaurant grows a substantial proportion of its own produce and works with small local producers on both the French and Italian sides of the border. Seafood is line-caught or hand-dived. The team numbers around fifty people across kitchen, garden and service, and Colagreco has described himself as the conductor of a larger natural system rather than a traditional chef-auteur.
The visual style is pictorial. Dishes are composed as colourful compositions of flowers, leaves, petals, fruit and vegetables, often with bold contrasts of texture and temperature. Colagreco has consistently said his style is neither Italian nor Argentinian nor French but is instead a personal synthesis of his heritage, his training and the Mediterranean coastline he now calls home. The Univers Menu (nine courses) is the restaurant’s signature format, and a carte blanche option lets guests hand the kitchen full creative control.
Notable dishes at Mirazur
Mirazur’s menu rotates entirely across the four lunar realms, so few dishes stay on the menu for long. Several compositions have nevertheless become recognisable. The parsley preparation, a study in one ingredient across textures and techniques, is a current signature praised for its creativity and balance. The beetroot variations draw on the root phase of the menu, the tomato compositions on the fruit phase, and the edible flower plates on the flower phase. The crudo preparations of red Mediterranean prawn and local fish reflect Colagreco’s Argentine-Italian heritage and his relationships with local Menton fishermen. Mirazur’s famous lemon dessert, built around Menton’s Protected Geographical Indication lemons, closes most menus in the season.
Mauro Colagreco awards and recognition
- 2006: Gault & Millau Revelation of the Year
- 2007: First Michelin star at Mirazur
- 2012: Second Michelin star at Mirazur
- 2017: Chef of the Year by Gault & Millau (first non-French chef)
- 2019: Third Michelin star at Mirazur (first non-French-born chef to earn three stars in the French Michelin Guide)
- 2019: The World’s Best Restaurant (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants)
- 2019: The Best Chef in the World (Le Chef Compilation)
- 2020: Green Michelin Star and Plastic Free certification
- 2022: First chef named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for biodiversity
- 2025: Knight of the Legion of Honour; Côte by Mauro Colagreco promoted to two Michelin stars
- 2026: Three Michelin stars retained at Mirazur for the eighth consecutive year
Mauro Colagreco impact on contemporary fine dining
Colagreco’s most concrete contribution is the demonstration that a top-tier French restaurant can be built around biodynamic and lunar principles without any loss of culinary ambition. The 2019 promotion to three Michelin stars broke a cultural barrier: he became the first chef not born in France to be awarded three stars in the French Michelin Guide, opening the door for a generation of international chefs working in France. The same year’s designation as The World’s Best Restaurant validated the lunar approach at the highest international level.
The second contribution is a systematic environmental argument. Mirazur was the first restaurant in France to earn Plastic Free certification in 2020 and the same year received the Green Michelin Star. Colagreco’s 2022 UNESCO role as the first chef-ambassador for biodiversity extended the argument beyond his own kitchen to the broader restaurant industry, and his January 2023 appointment as Vice-President of Relais & Châteaux continued the work started by founding chef Olivier Roellinger on collective sustainability commitments across the organisation’s 500-plus restaurants and hotels worldwide.
Within the current generation of three-Michelin-star chefs in France, Colagreco sits alongside Alain Passard’s vegetable-first Arpège (where he trained), Yannick Alléno‘s sauce-based modern French cooking, and Bruno Verjus‘s ingredient-led Table in Paris. The 2026 anniversary collaboration with Ferran Adrià connects him directly to the other major post-2000 avant-garde lineage, Albert Adrià‘s Enigma in Barcelona included.
Mauro Colagreco FAQ
How many Michelin stars does Mirazur have?
Three Michelin stars, held continuously since 2019 and retained in the 2026 guide. Mirazur also holds the Green Michelin Star since 2020 for its environmental commitments. Colagreco’s Bangkok restaurant Côte by Mauro Colagreco holds two Michelin stars since the 2025 Thailand guide.
Where is Mirazur?
At 30 Avenue Aristide Briand in Menton on the French Riviera, a few hundred metres from the Italian border. The restaurant occupies a 1930s rotunda building on a hillside and spreads over three levels, with terraced biodynamic gardens and an elegant, light-drenched dining room overlooking the Mediterranean.
What is the lunar calendar menu?
Mirazur’s menu rotates daily through four biodynamic realms of nature: flowers, fruit, leaves and roots. Each day the kitchen focuses on one of these phases, guided by the lunar calendar and the ripeness of produce in Mirazur’s terraced gardens. The approach draws on biodynamic agricultural principles revived across European farming in recent decades.
Is Colagreco really the first non-French chef with three stars in France?
Yes. In 2019 he became the first chef not born in France to be awarded three Michelin stars in the French edition of the Michelin Guide. He is Argentine-Italian by heritage, born in La Plata, Argentina, and became a French resident when he moved to Menton in 2006. Mirazur has retained the three-star rating every year since.
What is the 2026 anniversary collaboration with Ferran Adrià?
To mark Mirazur’s 20-year anniversary in 2026, Colagreco has invited Ferran Adrià to act as gastronomic curator for a special anniversary menu running from 1 April to 17 May 2026. The anniversary also marks the opening of an 11-suite eco-hotel on the Mirazur property, extending the restaurant into a full destination experience.
What is next for Mauro Colagreco
2026 is the anniversary year for Mirazur, with the Ferran Adrià collaboration and the opening of the eco-hotel. Outside Menton, Colagreco’s international group now includes Côte by Mauro Colagreco in Bangkok (two Michelin stars), Azur in Beijing, Grill 58° in Macao, Carne in Argentina, BFire in Courchevel and Cannes, Kulm Country Club in St Moritz, and Grandcoeur in Paris. His public Instagram (@maurocolagreco) is the best source for current updates and menu news.
