Table 22 par Noël Mantel – the chef's table above Le Suquet

Table 22 par Noël Mantel stands at the gateway to Le Suquet, Cannes' oldest hill-top quarter, on rue Saint-Antoine a short walk from the daily stalls of Marché Forville. Noël Mantel opened his eponymous restaurant here in 2002, having worked in the kitchens of the Negresco in Nice, La Résidence de la Pinède in Saint-Tropez and the Louis XV in Monte Carlo, where he was also a consultant to Alain Ducasse. Fifteen years on, the address was rebuilt behind the same door and renamed Table 22, its new rooms arranged around an open kitchen and the ten-seat chef's table that gives the restaurant its name. It is selected in the MICHELIN Guide, its traditional, Provençal-leaning cooking turning on lobster, truffle, local fish and the produce of the market next door. Mantel still runs the stoves himself, with his wife Brenda overseeing the floor — a genuinely family restaurant now well into its third decade.

01The room and the setting

For the restaurant's fifteenth anniversary, Mantel knocked through into the neighbouring property and gave the old single dining room a second life. The rebuilt address reopened on 10 April 2017 with two contemporary, bistro-chic rooms replacing the former apartment-style salon that had seated barely thirty-five covers.

The kitchen, long tucked away in the basement, moved back upstairs and opened onto the room; facing it, a long table for ten diners was installed as a stage for the evening service, the piece that lends the restaurant its new name. Between the two rooms and the terrace, the address can now seat well over a hundred guests, with room for fourteen more outside when the weather allows — the terrace and air conditioning both listed among its facilities today.

02The chef

Noël Mantel worked in some of the finest kitchens on the Riviera before opening his own address in 2002, including spells at the Negresco in Nice, La Résidence de la Pinède in Saint-Tropez and the Louis XV in Monte Carlo, where he later acted as a consultant to Alain Ducasse. He also spent time alongside Jacques Maximin, another formative figure of Riviera cuisine, before settling into a kitchen of his own rather than chasing the spotlight.

Insider tip

Open evenings only, daily; reserve ahead, especially in festival season.

The restaurant remains a family concern: Mantel cooks, his wife Brenda runs events and hospitality, and their son Étienne now runs the household's second Cannes address, Uva, near the covered Gambetta market, where risotto again takes pride of place on the menu.

03The cooking

Gault & Millau, awarding the house 13/20 as a 'Chef's Restaurant', sums up a quarter-century of consistency built on timeless specialities — lobster ravioli, rack of lamb with thyme — alongside seasonal surprises such as scallops with hazelnut butter and truffle, or scallops in bouillabaisse sauce with fennel, artichoke and courgette.

On its own seasonal card, Table 22 lists lobster ravioli with melting leeks and an emulsified shellfish jus, an Italian-style risotto finished with veal jus and seasonal produce — summer truffle, cèpes, asparagus or white Alba truffle depending on the month — a roast rack of Provençal lamb with thyme, grilled apples and fresh cèpes, a farmhouse veal chop cooked in the pan with fingerling potatoes and melting carrots, and a beef fillet with fleur de sel and seasonal vegetables.

04What to order

Start with the lobster ravioli in melting leeks and emulsified shellfish jus, priced at €20 on the current à la carte according to Gault & Millau's 2026 review — the dish most reviewers single out as the one worth the detour. Follow with the Italian-style risotto, which changes with the season from summer truffle to white Alba truffle in winter, or the roast rack of Provençal lamb with thyme and grilled apples. To finish, the traditional rum baba with whipped cream remains on the card, alongside a chocolate dessert built on guanaja chocolate and salted-butter ice cream.

05Wine and drinks

Noël Mantel is, by his own reputation, an avid collector, and the cellar reflects it: a wine list packed with fine labels and regional estates sits alongside the seasonal menu, one of the facilities the MICHELIN Guide notes as 'interesting' at this address. The list draws on vignerons from across France, chosen as much for the stories behind the bottles as for their place on the table.

06The neighbourhood

Table 22 sits within easy reach of the Croisette, in the most picturesque corner of town, Suquet Hill, owned and run by Noël and Brenda Mantel themselves. The steep, winding rue Saint-Antoine that leads up through Le Suquet, Cannes' oldest quarter, is lined with restaurants, but this one has kept its footing at number 22 for over two decades, a few minutes from the covered stalls of Marché Forville where much of the day's produce is bought each morning.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.