The restaurant of the Chateau Eza hotel in Eze is one of the finest in the region. The master chef is Justin Schmitt whose innovative cuisine won the restaurant a well-deserved Michelin star. Perched on a cliff, the magnificent sea view would alone make the restaurant worthwhile even without the stellar cuisine.

Alas, it was gray and misty on our visit yesterday which is why we opted for the window table inside.

We settled in, ready to see if the restaurant lived up to its hype. Spoiler alert: it did.

The restaurant offers a lunch menu for €79 including three courses but no beverage.

We began with a glass of the delightfully dry Amour de Deutz Champagne.

Notice those delicate herbal crackers below. Nice start! And swiftly followed by an amuse-bouche of dusky, fruity autumn flavors:

Now, on to the main business.

I began with:

“Mackerel with vanilla and kohlrabi cabbage with nori seaweed, cabbage milk with buckwheat tea, summer jasmin”

It may look like an art project but the art was in combining unusual flavors in such a way that the essence of each ingredient was highlighted and “explained” in a novel way. Mackerel is a strongly-flavored fish but here the sweetness of the cabbage mollified the oily fish. The jasmine brought the layers together.

My companion ordered a la carte:

“Roasted octopus with satay Creamy corn with smoked whisky essences”

Here again the sweetness of the vegetable, corn, and the smokiness of the whisky coaxed the octopus into releasing its most essential self.

Onto the main course!

My choice was:

“Monkfish, liquorice and grilled rice cream, artichoke, Iberian ham”

It’s just fish and rice! But transmogrified into a delicate swish of flavor. Apparently the artichoke was subbed out for fresh figs but to good effect. Let’s not be petty.

I’m not a bunny eater but my companion was most impressed with:

“Saddle of rabbit stuffed with gamberoni prawn, girolle mushroom with sweet clover, confit thigh with marjoram, rabbit juice infused with nepeta flower”

This dish was the only foamy sauce I saw, as Chef Schmitt seems to prefer the creamy version. How imaginative to include sweet clover and nepeta flower! What is it? A kind of catnip. I know a couple of felines that would make short work of this construction.

Our other companion ordered a la carte the:

“John Dory in its envelope of stuffed zucchini flower, Lacquered with an extraction of gray shrimp and verbena”

The tiny bit he allowed me to taste was exquisite. Verbena is plentiful in the region and deserves to infuse more dishes.

And to finish with a flourish my dessert was:

“Lemon and hazelnut from Piemont sphere, Taïnori chocolate cream and basil sorbet”

It was so beautifully presented I almost hesitated to eat it. Almost. It was mouthwatering; not too heavy, not cloyingly sweet, just perfect.

As perfect as the rest of the meal. Nearly all the flowers, herbs, roots and fungi are or could be sourced from the region. To take relatively simple ingredients and suffuse them with the flavors of our fields, mountains and sea is Mediterranean cooking at its finest.

Afterwards, we contemplated our good fortune in Chateau Eza’s cozy lounge

And then made our way down Eze’s rain-soaked streets.

[See how to do a day trip from Nice to Eze]