by Marina Orhei
MONACO. Enhanced by a breath-taking view of the horizon and the principality, Elsa pays tribute to the Mediterranean and flavors with delectable contemporary cuisine made with fresh organic farm-to-table ingredients. Elsa is the first restaurant with 100% organic food and wild-caught fish to receive a star from the prestigious Michelin Guide, a trust that has been renewed year after year since 2014 with these enthusiastic words: “First class, simply prepared ingredients, Elsa treats you to a gourmet meal in the finest Mediterranean traditions – fresh fish galore. This one MICHELIN Star boasts High quality cooking, it worths a stop! Elsa is a comfortable restaurant; one of our most delightful places!” And since 28 May 2021 this is the welcome from Pierre-Jean Ricardoni, Restaurant Manager at Elsa: “The arrival of cheffe Manon Fleury at the helm of the Michelin star awarded restaurant Elsa is the very pleasant announcement of this season. On the menu: a Mediterranean and organic gastronomy, giving prominence to local food network products, for a plain cuisine, generous and settled in its soil. ELSA is the first organic starred restaurant certified since 2013. Our organic vegetable gardens provide us with herbs, fruits and vegetables, and we work every day with local producers and fishermen. ELSA is a philosophy, a way of life. Respecting nature, respecting your body, eating healthy and above all enjoying it! This is the well-being we aspire to! Our carte menu is conceived in a sustainable approach to the complete use of the product. From head to tail, from fruit to nucleus, from flower to leaf.”
MANON FLEURY: ZERO WASTE! Nature at its most sublime… Standing at the helm of Elsa the cheffe advocates excellence and conviction in her cuisine, with an unprecedented commitment to using the entire product. Manon embodies a new generation of chefs who know that they hold the future of gastronomy in their hands, combining haute cuisine, health and respect for living things. To accomplish this, she has designed a creative and tasty menu inspired by nature, where each local product is showcased. Her ecologically conscious cooking and zero waste approach reinforce Elsa’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact. All in all, an event that promises to be full of surprises…After graduating in 2012 from Ferrandi, the prestigious Parisian hotel management school, Manon Fleury started out in the kitchens of Alexandre Couillon, and then to Pascal Barbot’s restaurant with three Michelin stars. In 2015, she joined the kitchens of Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Back in Paris in 2016, Eric Trochon, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF), appointed her as sous-chef for his Michelin-starred restaurant Le Semilla.
In 2018, Manon Fleury took the reins of the restaurant Le Mermoz in Paris and delighted critics.
In 2019, she received the “Prix de la jeunesse” at the Omnivore Festival and was also named “Young Parisian Chef of the Year” in the published ranking of ELLE Table magazine. In 2020, invited to a conference on creativity alongside Anne-Sophie Pic, she was one of the leading figures of the “Cheffes!» Organized by the journalist Estérelle Payany and the Ernest association to finance a food aid program. In 2021, it is facing the Rocher de Monaco, in the kitchens of Monte-Carlo Beach that we find her, at the head of the Elsa brand! To put an end to the waltz of famous chefs like Paolo Sari then Benoît Witz, a lady cheffe is by now at the helm of this dream place with a team in her hand, Laurène Barjhoux and Manon Poisbeau, two young people former members of the Arpège, to support her. “To cook at Elsa Monte-Carlo Beach I’m lucky to have Laurène Barjhoux, assistant chef or rope partner, always excited to open up the kitchen doors. As well as Manon Poisbeau who had the crazy idea to follow us. I am so proud that such talents have chosen to build Elsa’s cuisine with me, to feel their desire to make things happen, their strength and their determination. Thank you SBM Monte-Carlo Beach for letting women have their place in positions of responsibility.” She recently posted on Fb.
We remember that the Elsa restaurant was named in honor of a lady, Elsa Maxwell, a famous columnist known as “the Hollywood gossip” in the 1930s to 1950s, and a regular here. We also remember that the Monte-Carlo Beach Palace was renovated in 2009 by another famous woman, the Iranian-French architect and designer India Mahdavi.
“Elsa” Avenue Princesse-Grace, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin – Open Wednesday-Sunday Lunch, 12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Dinner, 7:15 pm – 9:30 pm. Rates and services: Menus 58-158 EUR service included. Carte 85-157 EUR service included. Annual closing from September 27th to May 27th.