Saint-Tropez
La Vague d'Or
Why we point you here
Inside Cheval Blanc St-Tropez, under the pines by the sea, a chef who treats sauces like poetry — three Michelin stars on the Riviera.
Chef Arnaud Donckele, who trained under Michel Guérard and Alain Ducasse, became the youngest chef ever awarded three Michelin stars here, and his cooking is unlike anyone else's — built around sauces he calls "ephemeral" and "velvety," whose names read like a guide to the Mediterranean deep. He starts with a painstaking study of each local fish, then composes around it; his turf dishes chase the perfect tomato or courgette to set off pigeon or lamb. The setting is pure Côte d'Azur fantasy: a pine-shaded terrace at the LVMH-owned Cheval Blanc, the bay of Saint-Tropez shimmering below, a 19/20 from Gault & Millau to go with the three stars. Open evenings in season. A long, golden, sauce-drenched dinner you won't forget.
Accolades
On the map
Other charted spots in Saint-Tropez
Worth the detour.