Le Relais des Moines – a monks' sheepfold turned Michelin table

On a hillside road above Les Arcs-sur-Argens, half an hour inland from Saint-Tropez, Le Relais des Moines occupies a sixteenth-century bastide that once served as a sheepfold worked by monks attached to the monastery of Lérins. Chef Sébastien Sanjou found the property in February 2002, not yet twenty years old, and has barely left since: it is here, cooking for more than two decades, that he has brought together the produce of Provence and the flavours of his native South-West. He bought the house, made it his own, and was awarded his first MICHELIN star at the age of thirty-one. Today Le Relais des Moines holds One MICHELIN Star. Set in a park of mature oaks and pines, the restaurant looks out over the medieval rooftops of Les Arcs and the long ridge of the Massif des Maures, a setting as deliberate as the cooking itself: dish after dish built on produce named, sourced and credited by hand.

01The room and the setting

The building's walls give away its working past: this was a bergerie, a sheepfold, long before it became a dining room, and the name Le Relais des Moines still points to the monks of Lérins who once ran the land. The restaurant sits between the village of Les Arcs and the chapel of Sainte-Roseline, its shaded terrace framed by century-old oaks and pines and looking out, uninterrupted, toward the Massif des Maures. In the warmer months, lunch spreads out beside the pool and under the trees, the cicadas providing the only soundtrack; inside, the dining rooms keep their stone walls, a quieter counterpoint to the terrace's open views. Between the two spaces, Le Relais des Moines seats around fifty covers in total.

02The chef

Sébastien Sanjou was born in Bigorre, in the south-west of France, into a family that had worked in the food trade for five generations. He trained in Biarritz and took his first steps in professional kitchens alongside Jacques Maximin and Alain Ducasse, before arriving, barely out of his teens, at this Var hillside in February 2002. He bought the house outright and built it, year after year, into the restaurant it is today, earning his first MICHELIN star at the age of thirty-one. His wife, Géraldine Sanjou, runs front of house as the restaurant's sommelier. More than twenty years on, Sanjou has also opened Marius, a second address back in his native Basque country, though Le Relais des Moines, despite his other restaurants, remains his principal kitchen and the clearest expression of his cooking.

Insider tip

Open Thursday–Monday, lunch and dinner; closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Smart dress required.

03The cooking

Sanjou's cooking reads as a running conversation between two souths. Over the years he has built relationships with growers, fishermen and producers, often choosing a different supplier for each ingredient: Provençal courgettes and tomatoes come from growers he knows, fish reflects the restaurant's proximity to the Mediterranean, while meat and poultry carry the accent of the South-West he grew up in. His long partnership with market gardener Philippe Auda is one of the clearest examples of that loyalty to named producers. The style favours one well-handled ingredient over elaborate construction - ripe tomatoes with basil sorbet, burrata and Baume de Bouteville vinegar is typical of his sunnier, simpler register.

04What to order

From the current winter menu, look for leeks with Valérie's egg and bottarga, Camargue mussels with cauliflower and samphire, and raw Saint-Brieuc bay scallops with fennel and a fumet made from their own shells. Among the mains, charcoal-grilled pigeon with tuberous chervil and watercress stands out; to finish, there is Papua New Guinea chocolate with arabica coffee ice cream, or poached comice pears with pine nuts and Tahiti vanilla ice cream.

05When to go and booking

Le Relais des Moines serves lunch and dinner from Thursday to Monday, closing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; a dress code is in force, with 'tenue correcte exigée' stated on the restaurant's own site as of October 2026. The terrace, built for long Provençal lunches under the oaks, is at its best from late spring to early autumn, and booking ahead is advisable, particularly for Saturday dinners and Sunday lunches, when the shorter Bergerie menu is not served.

06The neighbourhood

Les Arcs-sur-Argens keeps its medieval quarter a short walk from the restaurant, and just up the road stands Château Sainte-Roseline, a vineyard carrying the rare double distinction of historic monument and Cru Classé estate. Its Romanesque chapel, listed since 1980, holds the body of Sainte Roseline resting in a crystal casket since the fourteenth century, alongside works by Chagall, Bazaine, Ubac and Giacometti. The nearest station, Les Arcs-Draguignan, served by TGV, lies barely two kilometres from the restaurant's door.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.