Pavyllon Monte-Carlo – lunch above the harbour at Yannick Alléno's counter

There are grander dining rooms in Monte-Carlo, but few better seats. Pavyllon Monte-Carlo, un restaurant de Yannick Alléno, sits in the Belle Époque Hôtel Hermitage on Square Beaumarchais, a few steps from Casino Square, and it has been here since the spring of 2022. Inside, a long curving counter wraps around an open kitchen, so lunch comes with the quiet choreography of a brigade in white toques. Outside, under a row of cream Moët & Chandon parasols, the terrace looks straight across Port Hercule – the superyachts, the harbour front and, beyond them, the Rock of Monaco with the old town along its crest. Alléno calls it fine dining without the formality, and the MICHELIN Guide, which gave it a Star, keeps it in the 2026 edition. We went for lunch on a clear late-October day and were given one of the warmest welcomes we have had anywhere. Our order, and Metro Mode's recommendation: the sea bass and the wagyu.

01The terrace

This is where to sit when the weather allows. The terrace is laid out like a Mediterranean garden, with potted lemon trees, lavender and climbing green around white wrought-iron tables, and a mosaic floor underfoot. From the balustrade the view runs the length of the harbour to the Rock, the kind of panorama Monaco usually keeps for the people on the yachts below. In the garden, a mirrored Moët & Chandon bar with a handful of stools is made for a glass of champagne before you sit down, with the cream façade of the Hermitage rising behind it.

02The counter

Inside, the interior designer Chahan Minassian has built the room around one gesture: a counter in dark wood that curves around the kitchen beneath a softly lit timber canopy, with deep, grey-green upholstered stools and a carpet striped in the blues of the sea. The light is turquoise and azure, the mood relaxed. From a counter seat you watch the brigade finish each plate in front of you – the closest thing in Monaco to a seat at the pass – and it is the best place in the house if you are on your own or simply curious about how the food is made.

Insider tip

Open every day for lunch and dinner; terrace weather-dependent; children's menu €60.

03The welcome

What stays with you as much as the sea bass is the welcome. We were met by Andréa Caputo, assistant to the restaurant director, and from the first minute it was world class: the energy, the smile and the effortless way a table was found for us. We have rarely felt so welcome in any restaurant.

That spirit runs through the whole team. The staff are friendly and genuinely welcoming, and the place runs on a high, good energy that you feel everywhere – on the terrace, at the champagne bar in the garden and along the counter, where the brigade works in full view and the room hums with it.

The setting is superb and the food is excellent, but what truly makes Pavyllon is a team that matches all of it – and that is what takes the experience to a different level. In a town where fine dining can feel formal, this is starred-restaurant precision without the stiffness, exactly the fine dining without formality that Alléno promises, and it turns a long lunch above the harbour into the kind of afternoon you want to repeat.

04The kitchen

Pavyllon is Yannick Alléno's relaxed counter concept, born in Paris and now also in London and Monte-Carlo – the house even sells its own book, «Pavyllon, Paris – Londres – Monaco» (Éditions Glénat, €40). In Monaco the cooking follows the Riviera: the MICHELIN inspectors single out its seasonal, vegetable- and seafood-led plates and its low-sugar desserts. The card is generous and easy to navigate: cold and hot «creatives», a vegetable section, pasta, fish and meat, a short list of «must haves», Prunier caviar by weight or by the spoon, and two set menus, Monte-Carlo and Hermitage.

05The team

Alléno's name is on the door, but the counter in Monaco has its own chef: Hendry Angwe Mezah, Pavyllon Monte-Carlo's chef. This autumn he has been opening the kitchen to guest chefs from along the coast in a series of «Counter Culture» dinners – on 20 October 2026 with Selim M'Nasri of Épicentre in Nice – which says a lot about the spirit of the place: a starred kitchen that likes to cook in front of people, and with them.

06What to order

Metro Mode recommends two dishes. The first is the sea bass aiguillettes «à l'assiette», finished with a tomato syrup, capers and shavings of parmesan (€90) – Mediterranean fish, cut in fine strips and dressed with nothing that does not earn its place. The second is the wagyu beef millefeuille, the beef built up in thin layers with Paris mushrooms (€134), one of the kitchen's «must haves»; for €45 more it comes «surf and turf». If you want to go further, the wood-fire grilled blue lobster with ginger butter (€118) and the steamed cheese soufflé with smoked eel (€39) are the other dishes the card puts in the spotlight, and the desserts – among them a steamed chocolate soufflé and a yuzu lemon tartlet – are all €28.

07The menu at a glance

Prices as printed on the menu at the restaurant on 30 October 2026; the card changes with the seasons.

08When to go

Pavyllon is open every day for lunch and dinner. Come at lunchtime on a clear day for the terrace and the light on the harbour, start with a glass at the champagne bar in the garden, and take a counter seat in the evening if you would rather watch the kitchen. Children are welcome, with their own menu at €60 – guinea fowl breast with fries, fish with grilled vegetables or pasta, then a «milky cloud» or ice cream. Book ahead for the terrace in the warmer months; the tables along the balustrade go first.

09Make a day of it

Pavyllon is at the centre of Monte-Carlo. Casino Square, the Opéra and the Hôtel de Paris are a few minutes' walk away, and the steps down from the Hermitage bring you to Port Hercule and its yachts. After lunch, walk the harbour to the foot of the Rock and climb up to the old town for the same view the other way round.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.