Nearly 25 years ago, Le Louis XV – Alain Ducasse at Hôtel de Paris became the first hotel restaurant to earn coveted three-Michelin-star status. Monaco may be the second smallest country after Vatican City, but it’s home to the world’s highest concentration of Michelin stars, claiming 11 at seven restaurants. With the backing of big-name chefs like Ducasse and the late Joël Robuchon, the petite principality has earned a reputation as a glitzy go-to for gastronomic dining .
But over the past few years, chefs who cut their teeth in the shadow of these superstars—or worked in tandem alongside them—have applied their savoir-faire to a new crop of concepts, toning down the formality of fine-dining so it’s less buttoned-up, more approachable. “I want to create the kind of cuisine that’s simple but not easy, so diners remember the dishes they ate,” says chef Christophe Cussac of Les Ambassadeurs by Christophe Cussac , the Jacques Garcia-designed revival of Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo’s original 1920s restaurant—which earned two Michelin stars within nine months of opening. “The service here is décontracté (laid-back), but it’s still elegant and there’s an ambiance in the room.
When I greet tables at the end of a meal, I ask if they had a nice experience, not if the meal was good.” Cussac is jokingly referred to as the two-star chef, since he’s consistently maintained (or garnered) two Michelin stars while working at four restaurants over n.