pigonnet gastronomic restaurant

The Pigonnet, a haven of peace and luxury

Within a stone's throw from the majestic plane trees of the Cours Mirabeau - where Cézanne, Zola and Lamartine used to to have easy times in cafés - a Provencal eighteenth century bastide is nestled in the middle of a peaceful park with a French garden. Fernand and Blanche Swellen began the history of this mansion in 1924, opening a hotel where will soon succeed the biggest names in cinema, literature, fashion and nobility, enjoying the same welcoming family feel than nowadays. Customers appreciate this spirit and are loyal because, as they did back then, they enjoy welcome and conviviality in a unique setting.

A member of the « Small Luxury Hotel of the World», Le Pigonnet boasts now five stars. The rooms and lounges, the Provencal-inspired 47 rooms and the French style garden and its 35 fountains, the heated pool and spa, plunge the visitor into a world both luxurious and serene, exotic and relaxing, as in a bubble protected from the outside world by a wonderful park from where one can contemplate the Sainte Victoire Mount that Cézanne loved to paint from his terrace

The new Le Pigonnet’s CEO, Thérèse Blay (ex-director of "La Chèvre d'Or" ***** Eze) has already initiated the opening of the "5", a casual chic lounge club offering a brand new menu of champagne cocktails and tapas accompaniment. Always in a perspective of excellence research, Thérèse Blay and the Swellen family have planned an ambitious renovation program this winter.

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Le Rivera gastronomic restaurant : chef Philippe Jourdin's new challenge

The arrival of chef Philippe Jourdin - former two Michelin stars - in the kitchen of the Riviera gastronomic restaurant confirms the Pigonnet's intention of moving towards luxury while keeping the soul and heart of a family home.

Philippe Jourdin earned its credentials through great houses of haute gastronomie right after he finished school : Pavillon de La Grande Cascade and the Hotel Le Bristol, Le Relais Louis XIII and La Tour d'Argent in Paris. He was awarded the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 1993, the same year he reached his first position as a chef at the "Swan" at the Noga Hilton in Geneva with a Michelin star kept for six years and a half (1993-2000). Au Moulin de Mougins, from 2000 to 2003, as chef he participated in the reconquest of the second star in 2002. He was also awarded the trophy "The Golden Delights" and was second at the twentieth Price International Pierre Taittinger. Between 2003 and 2010, Philippe Jourdin was the executive chef of the prestigious Domaine de Terre Blanche managed by Four Seasons in the Var, where he got one star in 2005 and a second one in 2009 for the gastronomic restaurant Faventia and three Gault Millau "Toques". In 2011, he took in charge the kitchens of the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo. Philippe Jourdin traveled the world around, participating in dinners and gastronomic weeks (Milan, Moscow, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Santa Barbara…). Finally, before joining The Pigonnet last October, Philippe Jourdin recently worked for the palaces La Réserve in Ramatuelle and Geneva.

His Mediterranean-inspired cuisine on basis of traditional French cuisine enhances the flavors of the South, land of mixtures, sometimes with more distant spices or mixing sweet and salty, to magnify ingredients selected with the greatest care. For example, he has his scallops directly brought from Britain and buys vegetables from nature-friendly agriculture suppliers. A native from from Normandy, Philippe Jourdin likes to work in winter vegetables from the North: chicory, Jerusalem artichokes or salsifies. (He dreams of growing organic vegetables in a small garden in the corner of the park of the hotel). Speaking of his art, Phlippe Jourdin says: " Traditional French gastronomy is the foundation of my house. But I like to adapt it to the "goût du jour", to the customers' taste, to make it more contemporary, more light". And he adds: "We are a link in the chain, we come just after the producer, to enhance the product while respecting it. But the simplest is the hardest to do: to respect the taste of products, to master the cooking..."

Very well presented on the plate, Philippe Jourdin's gastronomy is round, all in harmony and we find flavors of childhood, such as in mother's cooking. The harmony continues in the wines thanks to the talent of sommelier Fabien Raoux, who offers a selection of wines marrying perfectly with the dishes.

Each day, the chef proposes a "plat du marché", a surprise du chef structured around the game in the winter and Mediterranean fish in the summer. We invite you to enjoy with us some dishes. The dessert was made by the Pastry Chef William Sage.

At the reopening of the hotel in March 2013, with surrounded by a reconstituted team, Philippe Jourdin will undertake to adorn his restaurant with one star.

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