The story
Bruno Cirino trained under Jo Rostang, Roger Vergé, Jacques Maximin and Alain Ducasse, and worked at the Royal Monceau, the Negresco, and Château Eza before opening his own restaurants. In February 2020, he launched Racines in Nice, a restaurant that celebrates vegetables and everything that comes from the earth. His previous two-Michelin-starred Hostellerie Jérôme and Le Café de la Fontaine in La Turbie established his reputation, but Racines is his most personal project – a “potager” (kitchen garden) brought to the table.
Racines sits in a lively, renovated neighbourhood near the Halle de la Gare du Sud and the Marché de la Libération. The dining room is warm and intimate, with Prussian blue walls, Art Deco touches, 1970s objects, and light wood throughout – a look that feels closer to a refined bistro than a formal palace.
This is a restaurant built around vegetables. Bruno Cirino works with organic farmers and gardeners he has known for years, sourcing from potagers in Èze Village and around La Turbie. Each day, he visits the market and returns with the finest seasonal produce. The menu changes constantly, driven by what nature offers. A recent “Chant de la Terre” menu at €85 included a compote of Neapolitan aubergines with datterino tomato water, white morels in their own jus, a pot-au-feu of garden vegetables with pistou, and a heart of spiny artichoke with comté emulsion. Even desserts – such as a fine citrus tart from the garden or wild strawberry arlettes with sweet potato ice cream – stay rooted in the vegetable kingdom. Fish and meat are absent; the focus is entirely on the Mediterranean terroir.
In 2026, Racines received its first Michelin star, a fitting acknowledgment of Cirino’s precise, inventive vegetable cookery. The restaurant is currently closed and will reopen in June 2026, continuing its mission to prove that vegetables, treated with skill and respect, can deliver a gastronomic experience as compelling as any.
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