It’s no secret that Alain Ducasse’s heart belongs to the Riviera. In J’aime Monaco: Ma Méditerranée en 170 Adresses, the follow-up to J’aime Paris, the chef introduces us to the landscape of his formative years as a culinary superpower. Ducasse grew up in Landes, in south-west France, but it was at Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo that he first cemented his reputation, after many years working all over Provence and the Côte d’Azur.

It was at Le Louis XV that in 1990, at 33, he became the youngest chef to attain the red guide’s prized three-star rating. Not one to rest on his bay leaves, in 2005 Ducasse became the first chef to hold three sets of three stars simultaneously, an honour he retains today with Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris and Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester in London along with Le Louis XV. He now has scores of restaurants to his name, spread from Las Vegas to Hong Kong, Tokyo to St-Petersburg, holding 20 Michelin stars in total. He has published shelves of books, and his company has consulted to the European Space Agency on food for astronauts.

But despite his culinary superstardom, Ducasse has never lost his taste for the cuisine of the sun. Le Louis XV might have a reputation for unbridled indulgence, but its cuisine is founded on artichokes and anchovies, peppers, olive oil and sea bass.

The Riviera that Ducasse introduces us to in his latest book is a place of luxury, certainly, taking in the likes of Le Louis XV, of course, as well as restaurants from the new generation of envelope-pushers, such as Mauro Colagreco’s Le Mirazur in Menton. But Ducasse’s idea of hedonism still, we’re happy to say, encompasses the markets and back-alley eateries, the delis and butcheries, the husband-and-wife operations that give the region its soul. The selection we’ve translated here is just the tip of the iceberg.