LE MIRAGE, born from social distancing measures, is a tavern-style restaurant run by the team of Jeff Mouroux in the kitchen and Anthony Gasdeblay in the dining room, a convivial atmosphere sprinkled with wine.
The name of this restaurant is a contraction of MIRande and garAGE. The team of the Table Haute and the Cooking classes, led by Jeff Mouroux, serves a daily menu based on organic and local products.
A selection of the region's best wines accompany the small plates to be shared... or not! The open kitchen offers a view of the chef and his team cooking around the wood-fired oven. The dishes are made of "mostly" organic and local products. A short list of local and organic wines by the bottle is also available. .The vegetables come from farms located less than 5 km from Avignon.
A relaxed, friendly and convivial atmosphere in the courtyard, the vaulted cellar and the garage; a magnificent series of three large rooms in the historic 17th century building. This includes the garage, which was used as a horse-drawn carriage house in the 19th century and for cars in the 20th century, and was once the large tinel for the cardinal's livery of Saint Martial. Like the wall tapestries in vogue in the 14th century, large paintings by the American artist Timothy Hennessy adorn the stone walls and contribute to the unique atmosphere of this unusual place in Avignon.
An atypical restaurant awarded a Plate in the 2021 Michelin Guide.
A gourmet trained in permaculture, biodynamics and organic market gardening, a CPC in cooking and training in culinary techniques adapted to health at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Montpellier... After 12 years in the creative arts and 17 years as director and founder of the communication agency "La Souris Verte", Patrice Blain made the choice to reconvert into cooking and agro-ecology over the age of 40.
“It was the taste of the good product that first led me to cooking… The vegetable planted locally, on the open ground, without pesticides, then picked at maturity, in the right season, to be worked well, this is what inspires me, what makes me want to create recipes to share. Sharing is another important point for me in the kitchen. I want to create a lively and vibrant cuisine reflecting conviviality.”
Patrice Blain has been a professional chef for five years. He learned by following his instincts with other professionals who inspired him: in a vegetarian restaurant in Arles, then “Sous les Micocouliers”, a semi-gastronomic restaurant in Eygalières, with Nadia Sammut and Ernest Hungdo at the Auberge de la Fenière...
Alexandre Malinverno is the resident chef of La Table Haute at la Mirande, a self-taught cook and pastry chef. He fell in love with gourmet cooking after having earned a Master’s degree in Economics. A globetrotter and food lover, he also cooks for private groups and dinners and will tell you all kinds of culinary stories from his trips.
His banners, costumes, painted furniture and stylized trees contribute to the unusual ambiance and perfectly suit the ancient walls of the cardinals’ residence, once bedecked with ornate tapestries.
