Jacques Garcia revisits the design at Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo, and it’s more refined than ever

Posted in Hotel Review, News, Projects

SPACE checks-in to Monaco’s most storied independent hotel, where Jacques Garcia returns to find a quieter, more restrained vision of his own making.

WORDS BY ANDREW HARRIS

Within Monte Carlo’s Carré D’Or, that tightly woven web of unrelenting wealth that surrounds the casino, there are probably three truly historic grand hotels: Hôtel Hermitage, Hôtel de Paris, and Hotel Metropole. The first two belong to the Societé de Bains de Mer, effectively the Monegasque royal family, but the third member of this holy trinity of Riviera hospitality, actually constructed on land purchased from a pope, is independently owned.

Le Metropole, conceived, as were its competitors, in an unabashed display of Belle Epoque bling in 1889, was acquired by the Lebanese billionaire Nabil Bustany a century later, and is now overseen by his son Fadi, who is also rumoured to be quite hands-on with the hotel’s operations. From its inception, design oversight of the property was accorded to Jacques Garcia, the legendary Parisian exponent of unrestrained maximalism whose indulgent colourful creativity has been draped across dozens of the world’s most prestigious addresses, from Marrakech’s La Mamounia to Villa Astor on the Amalfi coast for over half a century.

In 2004, Garcia undertook a major renovation of Le Metropole encompassing all of the accommodations and public areas, with sumptuous silks and flourishes of trademark theatricality evident in all directions. He’s also made periodic returns to the property in recent years, notably to restyle the 2-Michelin-starred restaurant, Les Ambassadeurs by Christophe Cussac, and the Lobby Bar in a swathe of sensual purple and gold.

Recently, Fadi Bustany called upon the designer’s services once again for the first significant update to that earlier work, resulting in the unveiling of the first phase late last year of two floors of newly reinterpreted accommodation. The work comprises 45 of the hotel’s 102 rooms and suites, though there’s not a gold tasselled swag or splash of Pompeian red to be found anywhere. At first sight, in fact, it looks almost-whisper it- minimalist. At least compared to his earlier work at the Metropole, though, whilst Garcia is often associated with bold colours and ornate detailing, he himself would articulate his approach as considerably more versatile.

“I’ve often said that I’m Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I have a taste for opposites and a curiosity about other places, and loving Alberto Giacometti and Antoine Coysevox is not a contradiction in terms – quite the opposite, in fact. I think that at the Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo, the guest feels this dialogue and thus becomes a hedonist of the Belle Epoque in the 21st century.”

These newly debuted rooms and suites channelling the Riviera’s predominant colours, the third floor bathed in a gentle blue and the second in a soft yellow, do indeed confirm a recalibrated design ethos that will eventually embrace all of the hotel’s accommodations. Freestanding Devon and Devon bathtubs in the suites replace the noughties sunken baths, elegant Colefax & Fowler fabrics cover the walls, while private bars are crafted from Calacatta Borghini marble. In the junior suites, the designer has crafted a dual-purpose writing desk and dressing table from green leather and white ash wood, which also conceals a television that slides discreetly up into the middle of it.

There’s a new Guerlain spa, the first in Monaco for the nearly two-hundred-year-old brand, designed by Samy Itani of Paris-based Itani & Courtois. The sleek, clean-lined marble and gold sanctuary, undoubtedly destined to become one of the most sought-after spas on the Riviera, features 10 treatment rooms where rituals specifically created for the Metropole are added to established signatures such as the Ultimate Black Orchid.

Up above the spa on the first floor, the Metropole’s pool area is a further example of work by a designer other than Jacques Garcia, its claim to fame being the world’s only Karl Lagerfeld designed pool. The centrepiece is Odyssey, a 65-foot-long artwork of photographed and etched opaque panels running alongside the pool, inspired by Homer’s Ancient Greek classic, adorned with images of perfectly proportioned models posing with urns and spears. The saltwater pool, whilst classy, isn’t especially big, though, not least with the artwork spectacularly backlit at night, the dining area represents a secluded haven of seductive opulence right in the heart of Monte Carlo. The Metropole’s G.M. at the time of its installation expressed his desire for Odyssey to last for generations to come. There are no indications yet of his hopes being dashed.

Summer seasons at the pool restaurant have recently been taken over by Zia at Odyssey, the preserve of a highly talented duo of emerging Provençal cuisinières, Manon Santini and Rocco Seminara, both, as is evident, of Italian heritage and thus a perfect fit for Monegasque gastronomy. Seminara, who has trained under the legendary Alain Ducasse, is the culinary director of the hugely successful Bagatelle group with its ever-expanding global presence. Santini, meanwhile, excels in crafting the best pizzas this side of Napoli, specifically the sweet kind, and is a dessert pizza world champion, no less! As was impressively demonstrated with the delicious chocolate pizza I watched her make for me. Within the world of high-end gastronomy, this delightfully self-effacing and gifted young couple clearly have a lot more yet to bring to the table.

Christophe Cussac, who invited Seminara and Santini to the Metropole and who also oversees Yoshi, the Riviera’s only Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant, acquired two Michelin stars for Les Ambassadeurs within a year of opening in 2023. A long-time acolyte of Joel Robuchon, the most Michelin-starred chef ever, with whom he debuted at Le Metropole in 2004, Cussac’s name replaced that of his mentor at the Metropole, following Robuchon’s death in 2018.

The restaurant, which somehow juxtaposes a supremely sophisticated cuisine with a delicately uncomplicated light touch, was recently reimagined by Jacques Garcia from his original 2004 design. A luminescent room now characterised by yellow, gold, and ivory exemplifies that innate Garcia talent to enable a space to appear both traditional and contemporary. Les Ambassadeurs, a name reprised by Cussac from the hotel’s legendary restaurant of the 1920s, remains one of the Riviera’s most revered centres of culinary excellence.

The hotel, like the principality of Monaco itself, will be acutely aware of how it needs to continually adapt. The monied classes that flocked to Monte Carlo when it successfully created itself over 150 years ago out of little more than wild lemon groves and some even wilder ideas, now embrace a wider and younger spectrum of society. There’s even a 21st-century city-state in the Gulf, that, just like Monte Carlo, has created a tax-averse playground for them, seemingly out of nowhere – this time, from the desert.

Jacques Garcia’s apparent Jekyll and Hyde approach, therefore, is perfectly in tune with Monaco’s aspirations to avoid being perceived in any way as démodé. With reimagined accommodations, Christophe Cussac’s elegantly upscaled gastrodome, the opulent Guerlain spa, and Manon and Rocco’s impressive interpretation of contemporary Mediterranean cuisine, Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo would appear, however, to be very much on trend.