“La Reserve”, the lushly praised (and lushly expensive) restaurant shepherded to Michelin stardom by Finnish chef, Jouni Tormanen, is in bankruptcy proceedings. Despite an unbeatable location overlooking the sea, the two-tier restaurant was hit hard by the recent economic crisis despite having opened a lower-priced “bistro” on the ground floor.

On a recent visit, we found the “gastronomic” restaurant upstairs was closed for the winter, probably in an effort to cut the massive overhead that running this establishment entailed. Although the €25 two-course lunch was not expensive, the portions were miniscule, like a parody of nouvelle cuisine.

Celeb-chef Jouni has left the scene pending appeal but the restaurant remains open. The current holding company is presenting a new prix-fixe menu running from €30 to €65. Perhaps the new management will push up the calorie count over the ‘lean cuisine’ level?

See more on restaurants in Nice.