After a dry service, with the new owners of the place Valérie and Jean-Pascal Montaner and around sixty guests, this Wednesday was the big evening for Le Lido. “No grand opening, we open normally.” Maxime Collart du Tilleul, the director of the establishment, can’t wait to welcome customers.
“A magnificent place”
The restaurant has been completely renovated. The reception room and kitchen are brand new. The interior decoration, a beautiful combination of cream and green colors, quite modern, is the work of Hyères designer Guillaume Gouin. And through the furniture we find the beach atmosphere of this place which was once a simple straw hut. “It’s magnificent, truly grandiose! The Montaner family has done something like you don’t see in Toulon. The place is magical. It’s totally different, much more luxurious”marvels Jean-Claude Grandmanche, the former owner of the place for 34 years, who left his place in the spring.
The new chef Bastien Cabasson, former assistant chef to Jérémy Czaplicki at the gourmet restaurant Les Oliviers at the Île Rousse hotel in Bandol, works on the catch of the day.
A Mediterranean map
The new map is resolutely focused on the Mediterranean. The chef’s specialty? Grilled fish and in particular sea bass in a salt crust (for two people, 90 euros).
On the meat side, there is also a choice, for example the pork chop (32 euros) or the breaded Wagyu beef (46 euros). And on the dessert menu, the Chanteclair Toulonnais of course, with its famous meringue and pastry cream flavored with mocha (14 euros).
The Lido, once a mecca for nightlife in Mourillon, has calmed down. “We focus on the catering part, with our lounge bar to drink a cocktail with a view of the sea. And a more relaxed and refined piano bar atmosphere”assume Maxime Collart du Tilleul.
Jean-Pascal Montaner “wishes Le Lido to find its place in bistronomy, but without overdoing it, because we want it to remain Villebrequin and cigars on the beach.”
“The Lido cannot not work. Everything is of quality. I have spent my life here so I have the impression that it belongs to me a little… but in reality the Lido belongs first and foremost to the people of Toulon and the history of the city”concludes Jean-Claude Grandmanche.
The Lido, Frédéric Mistral cornice. Reservations: 04.94.03.38.18. Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, beach and bar accessible all day.
