Local spirit
At La Palme d’Or restaurant, and at all the restaurants of the Hôtel Martinez, the chef insists on working with local fishermen, especially Marius, who delivers the most superb Mediterranean seafood – including John Dory and mullet – directly to the kitchens. The lamb is from Aveyron, the pigeon from southwest France.
The vegetables are organic, and Cannes’ Marché Forville is where Christian Sinicropi finds the asparagus, zucchini, and herbs he uses in his compositions. The sole criterion for selecting zucchini blossom: that it be from Jean-Charles Orso, former rugby player for the French national team, who has made this botanical gem his specialty. Philippe Auda, down the coast in Fréjus, is the source for the region’s finest turnips, radishes, and chard.
Local wins again for the oysters from the Mediterranean and Cap Corse, as is the case for the tuna and citron. Shellfish and crustaceans bring the taste of Italy, and the olive oil is made a few fathoms away, by the monks at the island monastery of Saint-Honorat, visible from the shore.
Sweet creations
Julien Ochando, Pastry Chef at La Palme d’Or since 2013, is the creative genius behind the desserts served at the Hôtel Martinez. Born a Burgundian, he began his career in 2001 with Jean-Michel Lorain at La Côte Saint Jacques (three Michelin stars) and climbed every rung of the career ladder, from commis to chef de partie.
But it was on the French Riviera, and at the Martinez, that his occupational dreams came true: He now oversees a staff of ten and, with Christian Sinicropi, creates the dessert menu for the restaurants and bars of the Hôtel Martinez.
With a splash of extravagance, with creativity and taste as his watchwords, Julien Ochando performs sweet feats with his desserts, always designed to dovetail harmoniously with the chef’s cuisine, working with a smile to create sprightly delights like espresso cupcakes, a berry tart inspired by lemon meringue, and traditional cakes in feather-light interpretations. One of his latest creations is a cocoa-bean-inspired chocolate dream, an earthy, woodland personality with flavors of roast cocoa bean and a crumble topping of flaked cep mushroom and toasted buckwheat.
La Palme d’Or’s décor, the work of interior decorator Sybille de Margerie, is the ultimate homage to the Cannes Film Festival. From the floor etched with stylized palms to the gold-trimmed cladding, from bronze statues to celebrity portraits, from color to black and white, the restaurant exudes the very soul of Cannes.
Beneath subdued lighting, warm shades of red, ocher, and beige enhance the comfortable ambiance. The restaurant’s terrace, the quintessence of dining pleasure, offers views of the palms, the Croisette, and the Mediterranean, while the lounge and cellar end every meal on a happy note.
The Mouvement concept
Chef Sinicropi, innovator of all and imitator of none, brings a new culinary experience to La Palme d’Or restaurant. Starting with the menu in cube form and based on the principle of Mouvement, movement. A philosophy founded on living things – in which the ingredient is embraced as being in a state of constant change – and the desire to explore new realms in cuisine.
As a prelude, his appetizers are utterly southern. A ceramic drawered creation shelters his personal version of the Barbajuan, fritters stuffed with Swiss chard and grated cheese. Sardines are eaten in marble form and the bottarga as a crisp lollipop wrapped in a crisp olive crust.
Gone is the classic starter/main course/dessert parade: the menu features a Mouvement on each face, a key ingredient express in three dishes. Depending on the theme and chosen ingredient – lobster, oyster, lamb, farm pigeon, tastes of the sea, vegetables – the chef leads a three-step waltz, interpreting the ingredient’s texture, then its evolution over time, then its surrounding terroir. He creates accords with the sauces the way a “nose” formulates perfumes and crafts the very tableware that allows his compositions freest expression.