©Photo Boby
Since 23 July and for the summer season, La Plage du Martinez is offering a new speciality on its menu: La Bouillabaisse by Jean Imbert.
La Bouillabaisse by Jean Imbert : Ah! que c’est bon la bouillabaisse, Ah mon Dieu! que c’est bon, bon, bon! sang Fernandel. Now gourmets can savour the famous Bouillabaisse, a legendary dish from the south of France, prepared in the traditional way with fresh, local and seasonal produce, with their feet in the water on La Croisette. La Bouillabaisse is a fishermen’s recipe from Marseille, of which it is a symbol. It consists of a fish soup served with bread croutons rubbed with garlic and spread with rouille, pieces of fish and potatoes. A champion of terroir cuisine, chef Jean Imbert is offering his own version of this iconic dish, a sharing dish to be enjoyed by several people, either in the classic version or with lobster. You’ll leave enchanted, and with the local ‘assent’!
©Photo Martinez
A holiday destination for great people of this world
Overlooking the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean and the symbol of luxury hotels on the Côte d’Azur, the Hôtel Martinez is a favourite holiday destination for the world’s greatest celebrities. The five-star Cannes hotel has been writing its legend for over a century. Its top-quality hotel expertise and top-of-the-range service, and its refined design by interior architect Pierre-Yves Rochon, make it an unrivalled prestige must. Since 2023, the charismatic chef Jean Imbert has been contributing to the Martinez’s renown after taking over the stoves at La Plage du Martinez, and more broadly, all the hotel’s kitchens, including the famous gastronomic restaurant La Palme d’Or, reopened in 2024 under his aegis.
Jean Imbert ©Photo Boby
Luxury cruise through daddy’s cinema
La Plage and the Hôtel Martinez, a mecca for the 7th art and flavours, boast a luxury yacht atmosphere and legendary directors’ chairs, a nod to the world of cinema designed by Rémi Tessier, the designer of the world’s most beautiful yachts. On the immense wooden terrace, the navy blue and terracotta decorative elements create a harmony of colours that combines perfectly with the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. In this picture-postcard setting, guests, languidly seated in the Director Chairs, can discover the greatest names in world cinema that chef Jean Imbert is so fond of – Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Robert Redford…
©Photo Boby
Ah Bonne Mère! How good is bouillabaisse!
And let’s not forget the national Fernandel, straight from the Canebière, his eyes glittering with mischief, his singing accent and his lively words full of laughter. The film set at its best, with its friendly, attentive and meticulous staff, completes the farandole of tasty dishes with Provencal accents. On this chic, timeless boat deck, bathed in the warm, bewitching rhythms of bossa nova and Latino music, chef Jean Imbert, who designed the menu like a film poster, takes the helm and steers the course with a master’s hand for an unforgettable voyage.
Unmissable genius
Following his victory in the 2012 edition of Top Chef, the M6 cooking show, the final of which was a big hit in terms of audience ratings, Jean Imbert has become a chef whose genius cannot be ignored. Since his first ‘restaurant’ in the kitchen of his parents’ home in l’Haÿ-les-Roses, with his brother as serving staff, under the guidance of his grandmother who gave him the passion, he has devoured all the recipe books by the great chefs, from Michel Guérard‘s slimming cuisine to Alain Ducasse‘s books. It was only natural that he should decide to make a career out of it, and join the Institut Paul Bocuse for his training. During his studies, he took part in a number of internships at prestigious restaurants such as Michel Rostang‘s in Paris and Antoine Westermann‘s in Strasbourg. With his diploma in hand, he worked as a commis for Éric Briffard and Marc Meneau, and in 2004 opened his first restaurant, L’Acajou, at the age of 22.
©Photo Boby
A tribute to his grandmother
His establishment quickly attracted a host of celebrities. In 2019, he renamed it Mamie, in homage to his grandmother. This new Parisian restaurant, frequented by a host of celebrities including Robert De Niro, Johnny Hallyday, Woodkid, Leïla Bekhti, Gérard Depardieu and Édouard Baer, dubbed him the chef “friend of the stars”. Sadly, after her death in January 2021, he closed the establishment. But his childhood dream of being a lover of the 7th Art was not extinguished. The man who, at the age of 17, grew up devouring films and watching Eddy Mitchell‘s La Dernière Séance or Patrick Brion‘s Cinéma de minuit on TV every week, for whom L’Encyclopédie du western is one of his bedside books, has come up with a completely different scenario. He, who loved film noir thrillers, wants to design a restaurant the way one tells a story. Like a feature film, he sets the scene with a table, a place and finally finds the light.
©Photo Boby
The culinary epic
Thanks to the fame he gained from Top Chef, Jean Imbert enjoyed a veritable success-stroy in the shape of a culinary epic, signing the menus of some of the most prestigious restaurants in the world. A few years later, he took part in several television shows and simultaneously became the chef of several restaurants: The Swan and Bar Bevy in Miami, opened in 2018 with his singer friend Pharrell Williams, with whom he also opened the ToShare in Saint-Tropez and the Meatpacking District in New York. In 2021, he will succeed chef Alain Ducasse as head chef at the Michelin-starred Plaza Athénée. In 2022, he takes over the Monsieur Dior restaurant in Paris, in the Dior boutique on avenue Montaigne. That same year, he designed the menu served on board the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express.
©Photo Boby
Marlon Brando’s island
Jean Imbert is also the head chef at the Hôtel Brando, created by Marlon Brando, who married a Polynesian actress he fell in love with during the filming of The Mutiny on the Bounty. He then bought an island, Tetiaroa, in French Polynesia, 50 km north of the island of Tahiti, where he developed the Brando Resort, a 100% eco-friendly luxury hotel complex with a near-zero carbon footprint. Ever since Jean Imbert treated himself to a stay there as a present for winning Top Chef, he had dreamt of being the chef at this palace. His dream has come true: the maestro has redesigned the dining room of the Les Mutinés restaurant and created a gustatory voyage where each dish is inspired by one of the ports of call of the legendary ship The Bounty. Still in the islands, he has also created the culinary experience of the La Case restaurant at Cheval Blanc Saint Barth.
©Photo Boby
Terroir cuisine
In May 2023, he became Executive Chef of the restaurants at the Hôtel Martinez in Cannes, succeeding two-starred chef Christian Sinicropi. In this iconic temple of hospitality and the art of living, Jean Imbert develops a cuisine that is gastronomic, yet simple and instinctive, iodised and sun-kissed, with seasonal dishes based around fish and the sea, showcasing the riches and fragrances of the Mediterranean in homage to the region’s fishermen. La Bouillabaisse, the ‘institutional’ dish of Provence, has been cooked in Marseille since its foundation in the early 6th century BC. A Bouillabaisse Charter was even drawn up in 1980 by Marseille’s leading restaurateurs, setting out its basic ingredients and presentation!
©Photo Boby
The sun of Provence on your plate
Fernandel once sang of the pleasures of Bouillabaisse: “To make a good bouillabaisse / You have to get up early in the morning / Prepare the pastis and constantly / Tell jokes with your hands… Here, the hands are those of the wait staff, who skilfully cut up the fish in front of you before pouring ladles of rock fish soup over it. The delicate flesh of the noble fish (Saint Pierre, Capon, Monkfish, Red mullet…), cooked to perfection, is bathed in a deep broth with a pronounced taste of saffron and herbs, whose flavours explode on the palate. Croutons brushed with rouille complete the delight for your taste buds. Even the Bonne Mère (name of the Holy Virgin Mary in Marseille) could succumb to the sin of gluttony when faced with La Bouillabaisse by Jean Imbert! But let the Holy Patron watch over the region’s fishermen, who get up early in the morning to bring back the treasures of the sea, and let’s just say that La Bouillabaisse par Jean Imbert is simply divinely good!
©Photo Boby
Green Globe certified oasis of luxury and relaxation
Over the decades, the Hôtel Martinez, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, inaugurated in 1929, has become one of the most sought-after venues in the City of Festivals, offering guests an unforgettable Côte d’Azur escapade of seaside pleasures and fine dining. A symbol of luxury, refinement, Art de Vivre and well-being, this living legend of cinema on La Croisette takes pleasure in taking its guests to the firmament of excellence.
©Photo Boby
Products from the French Riviera
Open until the end of September, the restaurant La Plage du Martinez is also the perfect place to dine with your feet in the water. On the menu are the creations of Chef Jean Imbert, who offers terroir cuisine inspired by the produce from the French Riviera. The ideal spot to watch the sunset and enjoy a moment of music, lulled by the carefree charm of the Côte d’Azur and the sound of the waves.
©Photo Boby
La Bouillabaisse by Jean Imbert
Served for dinner from 7.30pm to 10.30pm until 22 September (when La Plage du Martinez closes), it will then be available for lunch.
Price: 109 and 149 (Royale with Lobster) euros/per person.
Contact/reservations : martinez.restaurants@hyatt.com
Hôtel Martinez*****
73, La Croisette – 06400 Cannes
Tél: +33 (0)4 93 90 12 34
©JF Romeo
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