how the chef writes the new story of the La Palme d’Or restaurant in Cannes, within the Martinez hotel

CAnnes, the Croisette, the Martinez hotel, its emblematic brand perched on the roof… And its gourmet restaurant, La Palme d’Or. For sixteen years, following chef Christian Willer, Christian Sinicropi earned two Michelin stars there. In 2023, the owner and management of the hotel have initiated a major strategic change, similar to that made at the Plaza Athénée two years previously.

To breathe new life into the place, they chose the same chef: Jean Imbert. Which, with its success in the Parisian palace, had carte blanche to reinvent history. And, as a good fan of 7^e art, he was quick to imagine a place entirely devoted to it, compiling posters and cult objects, somewhere between the chic lounge of a projection room and the yacht club. We are on the Riviera, after all!

What Jean Imbert’s cuisine is worth at the Palme d’Or, the restaurant of the Hotel Martinez

Precisely, the nearby Mediterranean dictated to Jean Imbert the marine note of his menu. In the hungry credits, tracks (cephalopods) in parsley, sea bream in citrus scales or barbecued lobster, accompanied by Nice barbajuans, parade. The raw gamberoni are exotic, between mango and passion fruit, a surprising departure from local gastronomy.

The tuna belly is almost meaty, the flesh pink, delicious, coated with a sweet-salty sauce and lined with a zucchini flower stuffed with a brunoise of the same vegetable. Roasted in the oven, the capon, a cousin of the scorpion fish, takes care of itself, arriving whole on a serving trolley before being cut up in the dining room and drizzled with a fish soup-style sauce.

With even more distinct tastes and a few seasons behind it, this restaurant, opened last May, will sail at its cruising speed. In any case, she has already found her identity. This is indeed one of the talents of the media chef: this agility to shape coherent universes where his numerous – and sometimes distant – collaborations take him.

The Golden Palm. Hotel Martinez, 73, bd de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes. Menus: €130, €220. Card: €150-250.