L'Aromate in Nice – Mickaël Gracieux's star by Place Masséna

A few steps from Place Masséna, Mickaël Gracieux cooks modern, precise dishes from Niçois and Mediterranean produce in view of a glass-walled kitchen. L'Aromate holds one MICHELIN star in the 2026 guide.

L'Aromate is on rue Gustave-Deloye, a short street in the city centre between Place Masséna and avenue Jean-Médecin. Mickaël Gracieux runs it with his wife, Élise Morselli-Lourtet. It is his second restaurant, and this address has been home to his cooking since 2018. The MICHELIN Guide lists it with one star in its 2026 edition.

01A room built around the kitchen

The decor is contemporary – black, white and gold, with untreated materials such as wood and granite – and a glazed kitchen looks straight into the dining room, so the brigade is on show all evening. Black pendant lamps hang low over the tables, and a wall of gold palm-leaf paper gives the room its warmth.

02The chef

Gracieux arrived with what the MICHELIN inspectors call an iron-clad CV: L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence, the Plaza Athénée and Le Bristol in Paris, and Alain Ducasse's Le Louis XV in Monaco. At L'Aromate he cooks on his own terms. The restaurant describes it as modern, creative and tasty cooking from fresh produce; the inspectors add that it is elegantly presented, and credit the chef with the background and the ambition for higher goals.

Insider tip

Dinner Tuesday to Saturday; ask for the current menus by email.

The produce comes from Nice and the Mediterranean. The inspectors name San Remo prawns, trumpet courgettes, local green crab, squid and citrus fruit among the ingredients that shape the menus.

03Two menus named after herbs

There is no à la carte. The two set menus are named after herbs: Persil (parsley) runs to five courses and Basilic (basil) to seven, each with its own wine pairing served in 10-centilitre glasses – four with Persil, six with Basilic. The dishes change with the market and are not published online, but the restaurant will send the current menus by email on request. Its gift boxes also include a vegetable menu, Végétal.

04Before and after

Place Masséna, with its red-ochre façades and Jaume Plensa's seven lit figures on their tall poles, is a couple of minutes away, and from there the Promenade du Paillon runs as a long green park towards the sea. Vieux Nice and the Opéra are within walking distance, which makes L'Aromate an easy dinner after an afternoon in the old town.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.