Drawing inspiration and bountiful contemporary produce from his residence area of the Gard, chef Julien Caligo has opened a restaurant that serves his menus blind, including a component of shock to the meal for diners.
After 13 years of working in a number of the most prestigious kitchens of France, together with two years as head chef at Pierre Gagnaire’s acclaimed Duende on the L’Imperator lodge in Nîmes, Julien Caligo was craving to open a restaurant of his personal. Caligo received two Michelin stars for Duende, which is likely one of the greatest eating places in Nîmes, however he was wanting to exit on his personal.
“I wanted to cook a modern Mediterranean cuisine inspired by the region where I grew up,” he says, referring to Le Gard, a vine-leaf-shaped division of southern France sure by the Cévennes mountains within the north and west, the River Rhône within the east and the Mediterranean within the south. “Beautiful and fertile, Le Gard has one of the best larders in France. It changes constantly with the seasons, too, which makes it a pleasure to cook here. In spring, we have beautiful asparagus and new potatoes from the Camargue; then stone fruits, melon, tomatoes, zucchini and other vegetables in the summer; followed by wild mushrooms and truffles during winter. Le Grau-du-Roi is one of the best small-boat fishing ports in France, and there are superb wild oysters from the Camargue as well.”