After stints in respected Michelin-starred restaurants in Switzerland and Chantilly, Alain Montigny (Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2004) is now the chef of the exquisite Tiara Yaktsa hotel, whose terrace commands a drop-dead view over the sea and the ruddy Esterel mountains. His distinctive Mediterranean-inspired recipes are balanced and delicately flavoured thanks to top-quality ingredients and superb craftsmanship. Highlights include creamy scrambled eggs, truffles and focaccia toast or Brittany spider crab, smoked eel in green apple aspic with an iced cream of lentils and shrenkii caviar.