AM by Alexandre Mazzia, the restaurant by former basketball player turned chef has been named as the American Express One to Watch by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. While the restaurant is well-known in France and has won many national accolades, this is the first time that the restaurant and its team are recognised on the World’s stage. In a dining space that echoes the creativity of Marseille, AMhas become the emblem of the revival of the city’s culinary scene.
Chef Mazzia was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he lived until the age of 14. The scents of burnt woodsmoke, African spices and shellfish from the port near his home had a profound and long-standing effect on the chef. Upon moving to France as a teenager and experiencing something of a culture shock, he sought refuge in basketball, playing for the France U15 team, before ultimately gravitating towards cooking.
He then trained and worked alongside some of Europe’s most renowned chefs, including Pierre Hermé, Michel Bras and the late Santi Santimaria.
Mazzia moved to Marseille in 2010 to take up a role at the restaurant of Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse, where he was awarded the ‘Young Talent’ award by Gault & Millau in 2011, an honour which helped drive him towards opening his own place.
AM by Alexandre Mazzia debuted in the city in summer 2014 and swiftly impressed customers and critics alike, achieving three Michelin stars within an unprecedented six years of opening.
The restaurant serves just 22 covers, with a bar overlooking the open kitchen, and draws inspiration from myriad international influences in a menu focusing on vegetables, fish and seafood. Mazzia’s cuisine takes diners an emotional journey of self-discovery and the chef has the innate ability to make complex gastronomic creations more understandable. Unusual ingredient and flavour combinations are reflected in dishes such as courgette flowers in a green satay and saffron beurre blanc and crystallised seaweed with bottarga, forming part of what the chef calls a ‘cuisine of emotion’.
William Drew, Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, says: “It’s an honour to name AM bt Alexandre Mazzia as this year’s American Express One To Watch Award winner. We’ve followed the restaurant’s success in France in recent years and are thrilled to be able to bring this wonderful Marseille destination to 50 Best’s global audience and to celebrate Alexandre’s unbridled passion and singular cuisine.”
Speaking on the award, Alexandre Mazzia said: “Whatever the destination, the most important thing is the journey. I’m honoured for AM by Alexandre Mazzia to receive this award; myself and the AM team will continue to draw culinary inspiration from around the world and to take our guests along on the journey.”
This announcement forms part of the lead-up to the reveal of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. An extensive event programme will culminate in this year’s awards ceremony, to be held at Old Billingsgate market in the City of London on Monday 18th July, at which the restaurant will be officially presented with the American Express One To Watch Award.
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