Food & Drink
La Bouillabaisse
Saint-Tropez

When you think of Saint-Tropez, the glitzy party hot spots along Pampelonne beach are what probably come to mind – Nikki Beach, say, with its lively pool area, bustling bar and pumping DJ sets. But to the west of southern France’s quintessential summer destination lies what many of the area’s residents consider to be the town’s real soul: the Plage de la Bouillabaisse. Once known as Saint-Tropez’s plage de la mode, the private beach was a favourite stamping ground of the 1960s jet set, with the likes of actress Jane Fonda and nouvelle vague filmmaker François Truffaut holidaying on its white sands. 

La Bouillabaisse remains a go-to for many in this part of the world – among them Ludovic Moutet, who runs the laid-back, century-old club that gave this beach its name. “La Bouillabaisse brings together the people of Saint-Tropez, whether they own a villa in the surrounding hills or are just back here for their summer holidays,” he says. “These are the folks who loyally return every year to their table, parasol and sunbed. We’re far away from the DJ sets and champagne-fuelled celebrations that you find elsewhere in the area.”

When we join Moutet for a mid-morning coffee on the ocean-facing terrace, he is greeting a steady stream of evenly tanned beachgoers flocking to their chosen lounger for a day under the Mediterranean sun. “You come mainly to come back,” he says. The same holds true for the staff: many of them have worked here for years and know the regulars by name, as well as whether or not they take a slice of lemon in their sparkling water. 

This summer, La Bouillabaisse reopens with a refreshed look, courtesy of Marseille- and Paris-based agency Mews, which has dreamt up a nostalgia-tinged décor complete with a seashell-inspired bar by Bella Hunt & ddc and custom-designed director’s chairs in the dining area.

“We were working in a territory between memory and reinvention,” says creative director Laëtitia Toulouse, whose team took a deep dive into the club’s archives for the redesign. “Our aim was to restore the venue’s deep-rooted identity, while anchoring it in the present – and looking ahead to its future too.” Of course, no beach club would be complete without a place in which to while away the hours and soak up some rays. As we enjoy the scene from the shade, sunseekers stretch out on the loungers lining the beach, while other guests retreat beneath the pastel-blue-and-white-striped parasols.

And because swimming and lounging are sure to work up an appetite, the food menu has been rethought, with Julien Sebbag serving up sunny, sharing-friendly specialities from across the Mediterranean. Think grilled aubergine croquettes, broccoli guacamole and stracciatella-drizzled confit red peppers. The self-taught chef is best known for his meat-free options, having made a name for himself with the all-veggie Créatures on the rooftop of Paris’s Galeries Lafayette, as well as picking up plaudits for his omelette-filled challahs at
his first-arrondissement sandwich spot, Micho.

Here he has integrated his vegetable-focused menu with a range of seafood classics, such as fried sardines and sole meunière. It’s a nod to La Bouillabaisse’s origins as a restaurant in the early 1900s, long before it welcomed beachgoers with the addition of cabine de bains in 1932. Back then, the spot churned out grilled fish, langoustines and, yes, bouillabaisse for hungry holidaymakers and local fishermen alike. Today, La Bouillabaisse is a place to soak up the ambience of the coast: the only soundtrack playing is the clinking of cutlery and the gentle roll of the waves.
labouillabaisseplage.fr

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Food & Drink
Oli Bar
Cadaqués

When Catalan chef Vito Oliva opened Talla in 2012, the people of Cadaqués – a town about an hour and a half by car from the southern French city of Perpignan and two hours from Barcelona – didn’t immediately take to his food. “Back then, the area was just beginning to transform,” he tells Monocle. The rugged fishing town was once a haunt of Salvador Dalí and frequented by Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. It was a place where people were more accustomed to eating the aquatic bounty found along the town’s rocky promontory.

Now Oliva has opened Oli Bar with Italian marketing professional Valentina Audisio and Catalan chef Monty Aguiló, who hatched their plan after meeting in London while working for the hospitality group of Extremaduran chef-restaurateur José Pizarro. Oliva and Aguiló had worked in Spain, Germany and Australia over the previous two decades before they cooked up the idea for Talla in Cadaqués.

Oli Bar operates from inside a converted oil mill. It serves British-inspired platillos including scotch eggs and Guinness cake, as well as dishes such as Basque-style seabass and game tartare with Mallorcan sobrasada sausage.

The wine list is equally eclectic. Drinkers can choose a carafe of Galician albariño, German riesling or a Piedmontese nebbiolo. And instead of Catalan pa amb tomàquet, at Oli Bar you’ll find fresh house focaccia studded with black olives and slathered in irresistible smoked butter from Barcelona-based dairy Rooftop Smokehouse. 

“When we lived in London, we used to love sitting at the counter at a Thai restaurant there
called Kiln,” says Audisio. That’s why the stainless-steel bar that encircles an open kitchen is the heart of the dining room.
olibarcadaques.com

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Food & Drink
Radical Farmhouse
Liguria

Take a short drive uphill from the pebble beach at Lavagna in Italy’s Liguria region and you’ll soon find yourself in another world. From the gates of Radical Farmhouse, a path winds towards a red stucco villa, in front of which stand tables shaded by a pergola and a canopy of olive trees. From here stretches a smallholding where everything from cherry trees, beans and artichokes to wild strawberries and fragrant herbs is grown.

Radical Farmhouse is the new project from Caterina Ravano, who hails from Lugano in Switzerland, and her partner, Segundo Achinelli, from Buenos Aires. “There was a gap in the market,” says Ravano, who launched the business in April. Its farm kitchen is fully vegetarian and sources ingredients almost entirely from the surrounding land. “There weren’t many places like this in Liguria. Our central message is the value of relatively simple food, sharing and understanding the land.”

The pair are taking their fledgling farm business step by step as its popularity spreads through word of mouth. There are plans to add accommodation at some point but, for now, olive trees must be pruned and weekend guests be taken care of. “People come here to be outside and in the garden,” says Ravano. “That’s the character of the place.”
radicalfarm.bio

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Hospitality
Hotel Corazón
Mallorca

Mallorca’s 15-room Hotel Corazón sits on the brow of the rocky Tramuntana, beside a wiggly road that courses down to the hippy- and-rich village of Deià. It is now welcoming guests for its third season, under the watchful eyes of co-owners Kate Bellm and Edgar Lopez. The former is a fashion photographer who has shot for publications such as Vogue (think siren-like naked women swimming in the ocean). She and Lopez clearly know how to
pull a cool crowd. Their house on the hill does away with any primness or need to be on your best behaviour. Instead, it’s a fun spot where models, musicians and other creatives come to holiday.

For this summer, the duo have redesigned their dining spaces, including the sunny terrace, with the help of London-based designer and Ballearic regular Tatjana von Stein. Gone are the traditional wooden chairs; in their place are cocooning, circular benches and red-marble tables made by a local stone mason.

The food is also a big draw. The hotel’s head chef, Eliza Parchanska, makes good use of produce grown by the farmer in residence, Emma Galea. It’s a partnership that results in bowls of flavoursome salads, dishes strewn with edible flowers and a cheese brioche that will linger in your dreams for days.
hotelcorazon.com