A new setting for Marcel Ravin at Blue Bay Monaco
The Blue Bay at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort has become the Blue Bay Marcel Ravin. The chef explains everything that has changed in his restaurant, far beyond a simple name change.
After five months of transformation, Blue Bay Marcel Ravin was ready to welcome its first customers on February 14, 2024. The chef wanted to change everything to create the "restaurant of [his] dreams; a modern Creole hut to lead people towards emotion, more than experience." He tells us.
A concept based on the five elements
Since arriving in the Principality in 2005, Marcel Ravin 's cuisine has steadily moved upmarket. "We did it as a team, gradually, taking into account the environment and the terroir," recalls the Martinique-born chef. Over time, the chef decided he wanted "tohave a setting worthy of the cuisine we offer", but above all a very distinct place within the hotel. "In the morning, we served breakfast in the dining room. Then we'd move everything out to make room for the gastronomic offering at dinner. For hotel guests, it was a bit frustrating to eat in the same place. So we moved breakfast to the old casino space and completely redesigned the restaurant."
To rethink everything at Blue Bay, Marcel Ravin worked with Alexandra Saguet of interior architecture firm AS Interior Design. "I sent her my inspirations, my book so she could understand my story, and she came to eat. All this helped her better understand who I was and give the restaurant a soul," he explains. The chef thus imagined an organic concept based on the five elements (fire, earth, metal, water and wood), with a play of light, tables adorned with waves and screens decorated with coral, recalling his Caribbean origins.
A restaurant within a restaurant
Another special feature of this revamp is La Table de Marcel, set up in the heart of the restaurant and seating up to eight guests, for an immersion in Marcel Ravin's gastronomic culture. In direct contact with the kitchen, guests are immersed in the chef's universe with a tailor-made dinner in 20 steps. However, there's no question of calling it a "chef's table". "I don't really like that term. For me, it's a restaurant within a restaurant. A convivial space where people, who don't necessarily know each other, share a moment, sensations, our evolution over the weeks and what our garden offers."A nice step forward for Marcel Ravin who, he assures us, "has succeeded in becoming what [he wished] to be as a kid: a chef!"
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