La Palme d'Or in Cannes – Jean Imbert's film set on the Croisette

At the Hôtel Martinez, La Palme d'Or turns dinner into a screenplay: Jean Imbert's one-star kitchen cooks Mediterranean fish raw or over a wood fire, served in a wood-panelled room full of cinema memorabilia.

The Hôtel Martinez has stood on the Croisette since 1929, and every May, when the Film Festival comes to town, its restaurant fills with the festival crowd. La Palme d'Or, named after the festival's top prize, was reinvented by Jean Imbert and reopened in the week the 77th festival began in 2024. The MICHELIN Guide awarded it one star in its 2025 selection, and the star was confirmed in the 2026 guide presented in March.

This is what dinner there is like today: the room and its memorabilia, the autumn menu, what it costs and what to know before you book a table above the Croisette.

01A menu written as a screenplay

The cinema theme is taken literally. The menu is printed as an original screenplay, stamped final draft, and every dish is a scene with a few lines of stage direction beneath it – the fisherman casting his line for a John Dory, the growers trimming carrots, the pastry chef layering a tart. When the restaurant opened, the dessert list was laid out like a film call sheet and even the cloakroom ticket imitated an old cinema ticket.

The room plays its part. The interiors, credited to the yacht designer Rémi Tessier, take their cue from the yachts of Hollywood's golden age: wood panelling, film posters, signed scripts and memorabilia, among them a garment worn by Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. Above the large jury table hangs a chandelier whose gilded fronds echo the Palme d'Or trophy. Close to the kitchens, La Cabine du Chef is a private room for a small group who want the evening to themselves.

02Fish, fire and the Mediterranean

The restaurant describes its cooking as gastronomic but instinctive and unpretentious, built around fish – served raw or grilled over a wood fire – and the produce of the Mediterranean. The MICHELIN Guide calls the place a vibrant tribute to cinema, one of Imbert's passions.

Insider tip

Dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday. Elegant dress required.

The autumn script, dated October 2026, opens with carrot sharpened with black lemon and a ginger-spiked sauce of toasted buckwheat, and octopus with tuna belly cooked over embers with piquillo peppers and a marchand de vin sauce. John Dory is steamed and served with Swiss chard, pickled girolles and a light lemongrass broth; Dombes duckling is aged and roasted with turnip, black garlic and limequat from La Serre aux Agrumes in Berre-l'Étang.

Red mullet comes with Himalayan salt and a citrus rouille, and the spiny lobster is seared on the embers, flambéed with cognac and finished in a sealed cocotte with smoked tomatoes and samphire, with barbajuans to share. The showpiece for two is a whole scorpionfish roasted in the oven and served in two courses, the second a fish soup made with wine from Château Demonpère. Desserts include chocolate with mountain blueberries and agastache, pear with Provençal yuzu and Sichuan pepper, and a crisp tart with grilled vanilla, rice pudding and Piedmont hazelnut.

03A short film or a feature

There are two ways to order. The tasting menus are named after film formats: the Court-métrage, a short film in three scenes, at €160, and the Long-métrage, a feature in five scenes, at €240, served to the whole table. Wine pairings cost €90 and €150 respectively, and an alcohol-free pairing is offered at €55 and €85. Alternatively you can build your own film from the carte, where dishes run from €30 for a dessert to €195 for the spiny lobster, and €210 for the scorpionfish for two.

04Before you book

La Palme d'Or serves dinner only, from Tuesday to Saturday, and seats around 45, so tables during the festival and in high summer go early. The regional tourist board lists the restaurant as open from 3 March to 31 December in 2026. Reservations are taken online through the restaurant's website and by telephone.

The dress code is elegant: sportswear, shorts and flip-flops are not permitted, and pets are not allowed. Before or after dinner, the hotel's Martinez Bar is the obvious place for a drink, and the Croisette is right outside the door.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.