(French Version)

La Table de Pierre is the gastronomic restaurant of the superb estate Domaine du Mas de Pierre which has been completely refurbished in a sumptuous way and was unveiled last year. A transformation that has kept all the authentic and elegant charm of an opulent and soothing Provence in a perfect contemporary taste of today.

Under the leadership of executive chef Emmanuel Lehrer, the Domaine now proposes a complete dining offer: from the Bistrot Lis Orto (article) and its beautiful locavore bistronomic cuisine with southern inspirations, to La Paillotte and its tropical and comforting street food , with neat, gourmet and healthy room service, not to mention the delicate provençal tapas to share at the bar. It is the young and passionate chef Maxime Leconte, a true globe trotter of gastronomy, who signs the committed score of the elegant Table de Pierre.

After a classic and enriching career, Maxime traveled the World, from Asia to South America via Morocco, with this unique thirst to discover and immerse himself in different culinary heritages. He fills his senses and his backpack with spices, herbs and decoctions of all kinds. On his return to France, he continues to travel by devouring cookbooks from all over the world or from times past, to explore, experiment, test, work, assimilate and thus create his own universe.
From these rare experiences, he delivers today at La Table de Pierre a brilliant identity cuisine with vibrant flavors from around the world with dizzying precision.
The Table d’hôte, facing the superb open kitchen, is ideal for enjoying the Signature menu in all its splendor, and for you to experience the Chef’s cooking show. Bringing the final touch to certain dishes, the young chef talks to you, his eyes shining with passion and a thousand stars, about his discoveries and experiments: fermentation of black lemon or chestnut, maturation or hibernation of meat or ancestral cooking (hitherto forgotten) to achieve incredibly intense flavors and textures.

From the amuse-bouche to the last course, you will be amazed by so much creativity, percussive flavors perfectly placed, which twirl with precision in a fabulous delicacy.

The blown glass palette placed on the table invites you in transparency to soak the crispy bread in olive oil from Nice or with lemon, crushed black pepper or timut pepper and coriander. While you admire Romain (1st chef de partie), Gabriel (chef de partie) and the chef in a harmonious and silent activity of setting the plates, you are brought delicate bites in a vision of Yin and Yang. The mackerel, miso and café au lait tartlet, like a trompe l’oeil dessert of an intense coffee whipped cream, gradually reveals itself iodized from the mackerel, rounded and intensified by the miso with a final touch of undergrowth with the mushrooms. The Charcoal Puffed Tacos, Chicken & Bacon Jam transports you to the bustling, throbbing streets of Mexico City with the smoky barbecue chicken, enhanced with bacon chutney. The filo pastry sheet with fresh goat cheese and Mauresque gel, crisps in the mouth with the freshness of the goat cheese and is appetizing with the hint of bitterness of the anise and orgeat gel.

The signature appetizer is a real show : Langoustine flambéed on a pebble, cauliflower, black lemon and fried tapioca, the langoustine cooked in front of you on a pebble, then flambéed with whisky, is marvelously tuned with fermented black lemon, delicately wrapped cauliflower foam and expertly cracked with fried tapioca delicacies. Achiote oil and Mexican tarragon, between herbaceous, lemony and nutmeg-pepper, together wonderfully accomplish the finish on the palate.

Smoky Mediterranean Ceviche, Plantain Wreath, Cancha Corn and Sour Chicha de Jora juice tells a moving and sensory true story of the chef’s approach, travels and assimilation of cultures. The superb visual is delivered in several stages: the sea bream ceviche, wrapped in a leaf like a cigar to be shared during an ancestral ceremony and delicately smoked, is ennobled with a comforting crown of plantain bananas. The cancha corn crunches just in time and the sour juice of chicha de Jora (made from fermented jora corn, water, spices and sugar) takes you on a light tangy and healthy bitterness on the Peruvian shores. It’s stunning and gripping.

Sweetbread marinated then glazed with teriyaki, shallot candy confit with burnt citrus, local carrot is cooked to perfection rarely achieved, subtly glazed like in Japan with teriyaki, it leaves all the personality of its double crispy-soft texture. The carrot ketchup marvelously brings out its verve sized with the burnt citrus fruit and the ultra-melting shallot brings a judicious and delicious bite with its stuffing.

Monkfish, tapioca with fermented kumquat, mole verde & pearl celery juice with annatto : once again incisive visual of this triptych of sauces which rub shoulders, without tangling, in a harmonious shade of color, between the green of the mole (as in Mexico), the orange of kumquat and the yellow of celery. The monkfish posed like a rock with its ultra fine stuffing, is coated and camouflaged with its slightly marked celery leaf. When tasted, the three sauces have so much to tell that your taste buds dance in an infinite harmony of flavors and they could claim to become a dish in their own right. A real jubilant shock.

Matured beef chuck, a variation of parsnips and XO sauce, the meat of the breeder-butcher of exceptional blondes d’Aquitaine Alexandre Polmard (who supplies many three-star chefs and best tables around the world) expresses all its strength and its veracity. The matured and hibernated Paleron has a suave and biting tenderness, it intensifies with the traditional XO sauce (emblematic Hong Kong sauce made from dried scallops, smoked ham and chilli), which brings an umami kick in concentration where everything is there, smoky, salty, sweet and spicy at a time. The Parsnip, worked in several ways, finely mashed, foamed on a thin tartlet and grilled, assemble the whole in distinction.

For amateurs, the cheeses passionately matured by Thomas Metin (cheese maker in Vence and Nice) from a fine selection, served at the perfect temperature, are delicious.

For the sweet score, the Rum Emulsion, rum crumble, lemon rice pudding, has the ideal freshness for the end of a meal, the creamy, rice pudding with almond milk, vibrates with lemon. The second dessert responds in harmony to the chef’s dishes that made the taste buds travel and ends on a sweet note from Citrus fruits from the country and fruits from elsewhere Mango – passion sorbet, exotic Tajin sauce, between acidity and comfort of the passion fruit and mango sorbet, flavored with Tajin (ground chili and dried lime), which is reminiscent of mango slices sprinkled with this dashing condiment and eaten like delicacies during weekend family walks in the streets of Mexico. The gourmet biscuit brings the perfect crunch.

The mignardises end in tune with the signature menu of a lemon and caramelized popcorn tartlet and orange marzipan and orange blossom milk chocolate.

The wine list is classical but efficient and is about to expand with a new selection of exciting discoveries.

The service is orchestrated with attention and precision by Jean-Jacques Danilo, the director, he is supported in effective discretion by Cédric Garnier and his teams.

A dazzling dinner, committed, full of identity, that makes your taste buds dance with emotion and great accuracy while realizing, at last, that cooking really is a living art of gourmet happiness. Maxime Leconte is certainly a nugget of gastronomy to follow with attention.

Starters 30 à 38€ – Main 43 à 48€ – Desserts 18 à 19€

Menu Découverte : 3 escales and cheese 90€ – Menu Au fil des saisons : 4 escales 110€ – Menu Signature 6 escales 140€

La Table de Pierre – Domaine du Mas de Pierre
2320 Route des Serres
06570 Saint-Paul de Vence