L'Abysse Monte-Carlo – two stars at a ten-seat sushi counter

Behind a discreet brass door off the lobby of the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, ten seats line a single pale-wood counter where the hotel's Crystal Bar once stood. The Crystal Bar in the Hôtel Hermitage has made way for this intimate fine dining restaurant, now known as L'Abysse Monte-Carlo, the Japanese-French counter Yannick Alléno opened on the Mediterranean on 9 July 2024. Eight months later, L'Abysse Monte-Carlo was awarded two stars after only eight months of opening, at the Michelin Guide ceremony on 31 March 2025, becoming the first Japanese two-star restaurant in Monte-Carlo. It is the chef's second L'Abysse: in 2018 he opened the original at the Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris, earning his first Michelin star there, followed by a second in 2020. Across his group he now holds 17 Michelin stars, and at the Hermitage counter his French technique sits beside an omakase built from Mediterranean fish, Monegasque hinterland vegetables and a sushi master trained for decades in the craft.

01The room and the setting

Laurence Bonnel designed the dining room with the architects of RoWin'atelier as a world of sensations rather than a conventional restaurant: wood, marble, travertine, velvet and ceramic meet under lines that run soft and curved. The entrance works like an airlock, a lightly patinated brass door separating the Hermitage's casino-adjacent bustle from the hush inside. Ten guests sit directly at the sushi counter, watching each nigiri assembled and served within seconds; the curved chairs around it bring total seating to 24. Ceramic corals by the American artist William Coggin climb one wall, two chandeliers in hammered wrought iron and porcelain by Célia Bertrand hang over the room, and sculptural bag rests by the Dutch designer Rino Claessens sit at each place. L'Abysse Monte-Carlo, with its two Michelin stars, showcases the art of sushi at the highest level.

02The chef and the sushi master

Yannick Alléno was born in Puteaux in 1968 and grew up in his parents' bistro before building what is now one of French gastronomy's largest groups. His own discovery of sushi came at a counter in Tokyo's Ginza district; two years later, in 2018, he and his Japanese partner opened L'Abysse together in Paris, inside the Pavillon Ledoyen. The two stars awarded to L'Abysse Monte-Carlo in March 2025 were earned alongside Sushi Master Yasunari Okazaki, the counter's founding chef. Today the knife belongs to master sushi chef Naoki Kikuchi, a graduate of Insyokujin College who perfected his sushi-making skills in Japan at Manten Sushi Marunouchi before joining the Alléno group in Paris in 2022, and who is now responsible for the Japanese menu at L'Abysse Monte-Carlo, working closely with Chef Yannick Alléno.

Insider tip

Just ten counter seats; book weeks ahead. Open Tuesday–Saturday, dinner only, from 7pm.

03The cooking

The restaurant works to a single idea: L'Abysse Monte-Carlo is like a haiku dedicated to the Mediterranean, unfolding over an Omakase menu that combines power and delicacy, with the chef changing the menu according to the seasons and the fishermen's catch. Fish comes from day-boats working the Mediterranean under targeted sustainable fishing methods, often prepared using ikejime, the Japanese technique for preserving the flesh intact. On the French side, Alléno's extraction work surfaces in dishes such as a sasanishiki rice dome with glazed turnip and seafood jelly, a recipe drawn from Auguste Escoffier, and his langoustine en chaud-froid with midori mayonnaise, black lemon and sesame. On the Japanese side, nigiri is built nightly from the day's best fish, shaped by hand over Sasanishiki rice lightly flavoured with kombu and finished with a nikiri sauce of soy and flambéed sake, brushed on at the counter. Each fish is pressed, ink-wet, onto washi paper before service in the old gyotaku technique, so a guest leaves with a print of the exact piece they ate that night.

04What to order

Among the seasonal plates: Oscietra caviar wrapped in a kombu leaf with wood-fired spinach and buttermilk, and hand-rolled temaki of otoro or flame-grilled langoustine.

05Wine and sake

The sake list belongs to head sommelier Michela Rosco, who spent seventeen years in a Michelin-starred Italian dining room before joining Alléno's team to open the Monaco counter. It runs from a dry, mineral Junmai Bodaimoto made near Mount Fuji to Iwa 5, a Junmai Daiginjo created by Richard Geoffroy, for years the cellar master of Dom Pérignon, who has carried his ear for blending from Champagne into sake. Wine comes from the cellars of the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, paired by the hotel's sommeliers alongside the rare sakes, creating a memorable experience that resonates well beyond the first bite.

06When to go and the neighbourhood

In October 2026, L'Abysse Monte-Carlo opens Tuesday to Saturday, dinner only, from 7pm to 10pm; the counter holds just ten places, so the omakase is worth booking well ahead. The restaurant sits at the heart of the Hermitage, a few steps from the Casino de Monte-Carlo, inside a resort that brings together six Michelin-starred restaurants and a total of 10 stars in one place, making Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer one of Europe's most decorated dining addresses. A short walk away, Pavyllon Monte-Carlo offers Alléno's counter-style bistro cooking for anyone who wants the same chef's register without the sushi.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.