Alain Llorca in La Colle-sur-Loup – facing Saint-Paul-de-Vence

From the terrace of his bastide on the slopes of La Colle-sur-Loup, Alain Llorca serves one-star Mediterranean cooking with the ramparts of Saint-Paul-de-Vence across the valley.

Few restaurant terraces on the Riviera have a view quite like this one. On the slopes of La Colle-sur-Loup, on the road up to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Alain Llorca's bastide looks across a valley of olive trees and cypresses to the ramparts and bell tower of the old village, with the Mediterranean somewhere beyond. The chef won a MICHELIN star here in 2012, at the restaurant that bears his name, and the 2026 guide lists it with one star.

This is what to expect: the house and its view, the chef's career, the menus published this autumn and what to know before you book.

01A bastide opposite Saint-Paul

The restaurant describes the house as authentic and rustic, opening onto the countryside and the village from the dining room and, above all, from the terrace, where tables with mosaic tops stand behind a glass balustrade facing Saint-Paul. The property is also a four-star hotel with suites and a swimming pool, so many diners stay the night.

Alain Llorca, his wife Laurence and their partner Pierre-Guy Morani have recently restored a second address nearby, Le Moulin de Saint-Paul, a more relaxed restaurant that is open every day for lunch and dinner.

02The chef

Alain Llorca's cooking draws on Spain and the Mediterranean as much as on Provence, and he took charge of well-known starred kitchens early in his career – Les Peintres, the Negresco in Nice and the Moulin de Mougins among them. The restaurant tells the story of how it began: some thirty years ago he ate a meal in this very country house, and it was there, he says, that he understood his calling was haute cuisine. Years later the house became his.

Insider tip

Lunch menu €75 from Monday to Saturday. Ask for a table on the terrace.

The cellar is run by the sommelier Jean-Philippe, and the menus change with the seasons and with what the fishermen and growers bring in – the amberjack on the lunch menu, for instance, is caught by the fisherman Daniel Bouillon.

03Lunch, La Collection and the long menu

The Riviera & Garden menu is served at lunch from Monday to Saturday, except on public holidays, and costs €75: an amuse-bouche, a tartare of Mediterranean amberjack with coconut milk, fresh ginger and coriander, French veal fillet seared and served in the manner of a vitello tonnato with tuna cream and stracciatella ravioli, and a chocolate and peach dessert shaped like sushi.

La Collection, served at lunch and dinner, costs €150 for four courses and €175 for five. The menu published this autumn opens with ajo blanco of fresh almonds with a flame-grilled peach, or Gillardeau baby oysters served two ways, one with green apple granita and one in a milk infused with Iberian ham; then blue lobster in a fine ravioli with shellfish broth, or French beef fillet cooked with cherries and foie gras from Maison Mitteault; and to finish a warm dark chocolate tart with candied citrus and Piedmont hazelnut praline, or a crisp meringue with hibiscus, red fruit and basil sorbet.

At dinner the nine-course Collection, at €240, adds red mullet with orange compote and a tomato vinaigrette made with the mullet's liver, haddock cooked in star anise butter, and a citron sorbet served with Gin 44, scented with flowers from Grasse. Cheese is a €30 supplement, and a drinks package starts at €43 per person. Prices include taxes and service.

04Before you book

The restaurant does not publish fixed opening hours on its website, so check when booking. The menus show the pattern: lunch from Monday to Saturday, a brunch on Sunday instead of the Collection menus, and dinner with the long menu. Tables can be booked online or by telephone. On Friday 30 October 2026, the restaurant holds a Pink October evening with Champagne and caviar at €290 per person, with 10 per cent of the proceeds going to the French League Against Cancer.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.