Located at the very top of the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Château Le Cagnard is a 4-star hotel-restaurant, a member of the Phœnix group, like its Ézasque cousin La Chèvre d’Or.
Renowned for its coffered ceiling hand-painted in Italy, which slides to reveal part of the room, the restaurant is offering, this year, a menu signed Rodolphe Loury, executive sous chef at La Chèvre d’Or, which is arrived in January. A young chef with a remarkable career: Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo, Mauro Colagreco at the Vista beach in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Gérald Passedat at the Mucem in Marseille. “They are truly great chefs, who passed on a lot of things to me,” he tells us.
It offers a kitchen “very inspired by the medieval atmosphere, with lots of vegetables”, he explains to us, just to connect with the history of the place, part of which dates from the 13th century. We will thus note the presence of “forgotten vegetables in Römertopf (terracotta casserole) with coconut fat and medieval spices and bitter sprouts” (28 euros), or, in the dessert section, of a “carpaccio flavored with ‘homemade hypocras’ (15 euros), this medieval drink made by macerating spices and honey in wine.
Question of balance
The cuisine focuses on seasonal products, like “the shoulder of lamb from Sisteron flavored with anchovies, all around the turnip” (36 euros), a dish full of contrasts to be enjoyed in combined bites so that the very pronounced flavors of the confit lamb, then snacked, and its anchovy juice, are balanced with the subtlety of the turnip.
A marriage not always understood by the guests, but which augurs great discoveries to come.
Comfortably installed on this terrace which overlooks the village and whose horizon embraces the Mediterranean, with the attentive service offered by the staff, we are impatient to discover the future proposals of Rodolphe Loury, whose medieval identity we hope will still be more marked.
Château Le Cagnard. 54, rue sous Barri, in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Menus from 59 to 115 euros, for the whole table. Such. 04.93.20.73.22. lecagnard.fr
