Mediterranean cuisine

Gérald Passédat’s cooking is inextricably linked with his love of the Mediterranean. Fish are, as you might expect, at the heart of his cooking — fish from around Marseille, sometimes little-known fish (tub gurnard, red scorpion fish), and modest fish such as the girelle. They share the spotlight with shellfish, creating a sense of immersion in the Mediterranean.

Drawing on local vegetables and using herbs with restraint, many dishes are made solely with fish cooked in stock, fumet or an emulsion of different fish and crushed carcasses. The chef believes that a dish should happen naturally, bringing out the best in whatever is on the plate in a quest for simple, pared-down cooking with a loving respect for nature. His cuisine is deeply rooted in Marseille’s history, turned towards the sea but supported by the back country – truffles from Tricastin, for instance – and by vegetables that speak of the Provençal land.

A signature dish, as you might expect, is bouillabaisse: light, zephyr-like and tasting of the sea, it’s made without fat like so much of his cooking, relying instead on stock reductions that make you feel you are eating the best of the sea! Another signature dish is “Lucie Passédat” sea bass, a slice of steamed sea bass decorated with thin stripes that are alternately dark green and very pale yellow, almost transparent – very fine ribbons of courgette, alternately skin and flesh – and Tricastin truffle. The dish is doused in a well-reduced consommé with aromas of the sea, truffle and coriander to create a contrast between the delicacy and firmness of the fish enriched with this elixir.

The desserts are conceived as beautiful surprises that explode in the mouth, with textures ranging from smooth to bubbly: the frothy passion fruit cylinder melts in the mouth, while green apple is at once crackly and smooth. As for chocolate, it arouses strong feelings, and blows hot and cold.