La Villa Madie
Villa Madie review at-a-glance
Awards: 3 Michelin Stars
Rating: 93.5/100
Verdict: Villa Madie and its chef Dimitri Droisneau keep a low profile so the restaurant’s promotion to a third star, came as a bit of a surprise in the culinary world. The setting directly on the Mediterranean sea certainly fits the bill for a three-star restaurant but can a chef who is known for carefully curated flavors meet the expectations that a third-star bestows? Based on my visit, I am happy to say the answer to that question is yes.
Chef Droisneau’s cooking is not something that hits you over the head with bold flavors or overtly intellectual concepts. It is more subtle, focused on impeccable products and techniques to create self-assured plates. Outside of a prawn dish, there was no single standout in the meal but I found appreciation in the consistently high standard throughout.
Price I Paid: €280
Would I revisit: Yes, to eat on the terrace
Date Visited: February 2023
Value: 12/20
Villa Madie background
A review of Villa Madie needs to start with the first thing you will notice when you step into the restaurant - the setting. Located in Cassis, France, the restaurant overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and is surrounded by stunning natural scenery including some of the area’s signature calanques. Complimenting the beauty of the environment, Villa Madie’s dining room is sophisticated and elegant, with a modern and minimalist design that creates a calming and relaxing atmosphere. I have been to many great restaurants over the years but this was one of the best spaces you could ask for. My biggest regret was not visiting during the warmer summer months when you can dine al fresco directly on the water.
Chef and owner at Villa Madie is Dimitri Droisneau who runs the restaurant with his wife, Marielle. Originally from Normandy, Chef Droisneau previously worked at a string of the top kitchens in France including Tour d’Argent, Le Bristol and L’Ambroisie. In 2011, Droisneau opened Villa Madie which quickly gained critical acclaim, earning two Michelin stars in 2013 with the third coming in 2022.
Droisneau’s cuisine is innovative and creative, combining classic French techniques with Mediterranean flavors in an understated way. While there is plenty of complexity in his cooking, Droisneau’s food was subtle and didn’t feature much pomp and circumstance besides table-side pouring of sauces. The Chef’s passion for the terroir of the Cote d’Azur translated directly to the plate with many courses featuring the daily catch from the nearby port Marseille or vegetables from his 3,000 square meter garden.
At the time of my visit, the restaurant was offering three separate menus of either four, six, or eight courses which were priced at €180, €280 and €350 respectively. While this represents a pretty heavy mark-up from past prices (the most expensive menu was €280 in June 2022), this is reasonable pricing by 2023 standards with inflation in fine dining running rampant. The extensive wine list is presented stylishly in six leather-bound books and is fairly priced considering you are in the Cote d’Azur which is not exactly a cheap area. A pet peeve of mine, no list of wines by the glass was offered which leaves you at the mercy of the sommelier for recommendations with no info on pricing (they turned out to be €25 / glass). That said, the sommelier did a nice job by offering two wines by the glass which paired well with the food including an interesting oaked rosé from Bandol which was served as part of a blind taste test. They also kindly poured a half glass of red wine (a 2009 Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol) to go with the main course at no charge.
What I ate at Villa Madie
The meal kicked off with a trio of small plates, the first of which (left) was a bit of raw fish which you spooned into an oyster mousse. While the mousse did pack plenty of oyster flavor, I found it dominated the fish so this was merely ok. Better, was a snack inspired by the local dish pissaladiere (middle picture), with a little pastry stuffed with capers and black olives dropped into a dip of onion mousse. This worked very well with the flavor of the onion mousse being particularly good. On the side, there was also a seaweed crisp with lovely sea bass eggs which had wonderful pop. Lastly, there was a small spoon of raw shrimp with a bit of coffee powder (not pictured) which sounded amazing but did not have quite the flavor I had hoped for.
Two more snacks closed out the opening sequence (far right) - crisp polenta with aioli and a small tartlet of artichoke and cocoa. These were both extremely well done, the tartlet being particularly good as the artichoke flavor was very strong and the use of chocolate an inspired pairing.
The first real course was sardines with potato mousse and caviar. I was not entirely convinced by this dish - the sardines had fine flavor and went well with the caviar but I found there to be far too much of the potato mousse and its flavor was too dominant. The course seemed to have good bones but the overall effect was unremarkable. Better was a piece of sea bass paired with an oyster parcel and a sauce made of oyster and lemon. The bass had a remarkably soft texture from a slow cooking process which gave it a surprising (and great) mouth feel. I regret not asking them how exactly they cooked the bass so I could try this at home. Beyond the bass, the sauce which incorporated lemons from Chef Dimitri’s own garden was very refreshing and had plenty of oyster flavor. A very strong dish.
The menu left one course as a surprise which turned out to be a vegetable tart with an ample amount of Périgord truffles and a parmesan sauce. Described as an ode to the restaurant’s terroir, the large variety of provencal vegetables were cooked lightly so they maintained a very crunchy texture and their natural flavor. That said, this being the heart of the winter the vegetables did not quite dazzle as they might have in the summer when the slopes of the Cote d’Azur are soaked in sun. The parmesan sauce had good flavor and was a natural choice with the truffles while also adding a nice richness to the dish.
The best course of the evening was one of the signature dishes of the chef and featured carabinero prawn served with beetroot, kumquat, and ice cream (!) from the shrimp heads. This was a dish that was all about harmony between the different components with the centerpiece being a supremely plump Carabineros prawn. Carabineros from Spain are one of the most sought after shrimp in the world due to their vivid red color, size, and distinct taste. Using such a strong product put the dish on the path to success and the sauce, almost like a lobster bisque, made sure it stayed on it. The earthy beetroot grounded everything and prevented the sauce from being cloying. Tremendous work from Chef Dimitri Droisneau and the Villa Madie kitchen team.
The main course was milk-fed lamb where the kitchen utilized the entire lamb, serving the rack, tenderloin, and belly with a jus made from the bones. The execution on each cut of the lamb was impressive with the belly being my favorite as it was extremely well seasoned and had a glorious caramelized crust that contrasted with the fat. The texture of the potato gnocchis also showed great technical ability, being as light as air. This was a very well-executed dish but not as exceptional as the prawns that came before it.
The first dessert was centered around vanilla with a thin cylinder pipped with vanilla cream and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and tableside pouring of rum. This was a deceptively simple dessert but showed that tremendous flavor can be created even when the kitchen uses restraint. As evident from the visible flecks of vanilla beans in the ice cream, the vanilla flavor was deep and pure. Even more impressive was the texture of everything - the ice cream smooth and the pastry impossibly thin and crisp. Surprisingly, I found the Maison Ferroni rum to be an excellent addition. I worried the raw alcohol would be too harsh (see the Armganc in the baba at the Connaught) but that was not the case as the rum added an additional layer of complexity to a dish that would have otherwise been too one dimensional without it.
A more substantial dessert was all about pear that had been prepared in a variety of ways. I am not usually a fan of pear in desserts but this was a revelation, the treatment of the fruit reinvigorating it and making it exciting. Surprisingly, they incorporated saffron which worked well enough and was well judged to not be too dominant. I had some trepidation about Villa Madie’s pastry section as Andy Hayler lambasted it pretty soundly in his review for using unusual and unsuccessful flavor combinations. I am happy to report my experience could not have been more different than Mr. Haylers'. These were two extremely strong desserts.
The meal concluded with a handful of petit fours which were well made but mostly forgettable. My favorite was the bitter coffee used in the small tart on the right.
