At Restaurant Colette, we don't talk about suppliers but instead about partners. Indeed, Chef Colinet and his team maintain long-term relationships built on trust, with local artisans and producers. They share the same values and commitments, with the aim of obtaining the best produce while maintaining the highest level of respect for the work this involves as well as the environment. Like us, many of them are members of the Collège Culinaire de France. This unique, independent and dynamic group brings together first-class restaurants and over 1,000 producers and artisans. Its mission is to emphasise and promote the legacy and future of our artisanal culinary heritage, an objective to which the Restaurant Colette team is fully committed.
Of course, our partners and ingredients may change depending on the season, what we are looking for, the people we meet and, more importantly, what nature brings us from day to day.
Maison Bellota-Bellota offers exceptional Iberian cured meats, with carefully controlled origins and production methods.
For our pigeon, we chose a family farm located in St Paterne Racan in Touraine, Chef Colinet's native region, which is still a source of inspiration for his cuisine today. Our poultry is free-range and is slaughtered and prepared in the farm's own laboratory.
Just as we select beef from France, for our lamb we choose a PGI product from the region: Sisteron lamb from Provence, offering tender and flavoursome meat.
We rely on several partners to source fish. A century-old family business, Les Pêcheries, located in Menton in the Alpes Maritimes, provide a range of wild fish from the Mediterranean and beyond. Depending on their supplies, we also work with the Vollan family, who fish in Saint Tropez, and other local fishers working in collaboration with the Giol family in La Seyne-sur-Mer.
A member of the Collège Culinaire de France, Grand Cordon d'or in Monaco, Disciples Escoffier, and Grand Prix Slow Food, Maison Giol is located in La Seyne-sur-Mer. Its shellfish, and in particular its triple 0 rope oysters, take their time to grow in the Bay of Tamaris, in order to develop their subtle and unique flavour.
Meet the Vollan family who supply us with the finest rock fish, red mullet, capon... as well as lobster. Ariel, the matriarch of the family, sells the catch her son Remy brings in, from the marble benches of Saint Tropez fish market.
We use locally produced vegetables. And we really do select them, as we pick them ourselves at Yves Ménard's Jardin de la Piboule. This place offers a splendid array of fruit and vegetables cultivated with the greatest respect for the soil, biodiversity, the farmers' work and the environment, in Cogolin. This commitment goes far beyond the quality of the produce and is part of our more global approach. In addition to this exclusive partnership, Yves Ménard and Chef Colinet have also collaborated with other partners who share their values.
We call on Sidney Biasotto who, at La Plantation de Seed in Grimaud, works miracles without the use of any pesticides.
The strawberry is a marvel of Provence, and reveals all its aromas thanks to the natural production methods employed at La Serre du Plan in La Garde. The strawberries are picked each day according to demand.
La Serre du Plan in La Garde also produce mushrooms, including the delicious shitake variety. Grown on their substrate with organic oak sawdust, they have a delicate and unmistakable fragrance.
Thanks to our own plantations in the gardens of Hotel Sezz, we are entirely self-sufficient when it comes to herbs and edible flowers. From the plant to your plate is just a few steps and a matter of minutes.
La Serre du Plan in La Garde in the Var supplies us with all our aromatic plants. They are presented in pots and can be harvested and re-cultivated. They can also be used as compost.
As the seasons change and new discoveries are made, our team is foraging for wild herbs to enhance our dishes, to give them the unique flavours of Provencal scrubland. In Grimaud, Cogolin, St Tropez and Ramatuelle, fennel, borage, purslane, thyme, rocket, garlic flowers and elderberries can all be found.
La Ferme de Sainte Marthe in Angers supplies us with organically produced and cultivated seeds. They are grown in our garden at Hotel Sezz, where we harvest edible flowers as and when required.
For our olive oil, we go a little further afield, to neighbouring Bouches-du-Rhône. Maison Alazard, an olive grower in the Vallée des Baux de Provence, produces an intensely fruity black olive oil, with olives matured in their own oil to accentuate their powerful aroma.
We also buy from the Baussy family at Moulin de Baussy, in Spéracèdes in the Alpes Maritimes.
Tomme, Nombril de Vénus, and fresh and slightly ripened Crottin... Our variety of goat's cheeses come from Loïc de Saleneuve, a goat farmer and cheesemaker in Collobrières in the Var. This dedicated farmer leads his herd across the landscapes of Var's backcountry. This is where the milk acquires all its flavours. You can encounter this endearing character at Saint Tropez market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. He will be happy to tell you about Colette, his goat named in honour of the restaurant!
Located in the west of France, Maison Bordier produces delicious and generous dairy products. Our steamed yoghurts, stirred yoghurts, fresh cream, cottage cheese and various butters are all made by this artisan dairy specialist.
Maison Bordier is one of the only remaining companies to produce butter churned by hand. When it is salted, the butter loses water. It is then said to "weep", and this is how it develops its distinctive taste, which adds a unique flavour to Chef Colinet's recipes. Maison Bordier collaborates with a group of 85 organic livestock breeders located between Brittany and Normandy.
The Maison des Confitures, located in Gassin in the Var, offers over 450 varieties of homemade jams prepared in traditional copper cauldrons using only the finest fruit. An entirely authentic method.
We chose La Manufacture du Miel for the quality of its products as well as for its commitment to bee conservation. The honey varieties we like to use come from Mazaugues in the Var. We also like to work with garrigue honey from Cogolin and acacia honey from Azé. To celebrate our partnership, La Manufacture du Miel has named one of its hives Colette. Chef Colinet visited it in the spring and was able to sample its production. You can enjoy a gourmet tasting for yourself at our table.
La Manufacture du Chocolat, located in Grasse in the Alpes Maritimes, is the only chocolate factory on the Côte d'Azur that oversees the entire production process, starting from the plantation right through to the finished chocolate. Naturally, Chef Colinet was captivated (and inspired!) by this level of dedication to product quality.
We choose vanilla beans from Madagascar, for their exceptional taste and rich, sweet aromas.
A collaboration between Chef Philippe Colinet and the artisan baker Laurent Chevillon from Maison Gustaveur in Gassin has led to an original and delectable recipe that you are sure to enjoy at our table.
The symbol of Menton, the lemon is supreme. Maison Gannac, which has been growing citrus fruit since 1991, cultivates it from the root to the bud, from the branch to the fruit, under the IGP for Menton lemon. It produces a powerful and generous limoncello.
Among our partners, we have entrusted Maison Dubosq et fils, in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, whose expertise has been handed down through the generations since 1958. In Cogolin, the Courrieu family has been working with wood since 1802. While the ancestor Ulysses produced pipes from briar wood, today we find our unrivalled mortars, breadboards and other utensils crafted in olive wood.
With their sulphides and bubbled glass, the products of the Biot glassworks in the Alpes Maritimes are not to be missed. Founded in 1956, this glasswork offers glass produced in the purest tradition of Biot's glass craftsmen, uniting passion, excellence and expertise. Each piece is unique, and this is what makes their creations so enchanting.
Recently, chef Philippe Colinet fell in love with the stunning ceramics designed by Elisabeth Rovedo, whose studio is located in Auriol. You will find Rovedo Ceramics on the tables of Restaurant Colette.
And, exclusively on the Chef's Table, to tenderly cut the meat, fish, vegetables and other delicacies on your plate, we feature exquisite Laguiole knives (and their matching knife rests) directly from Nice.
