i. Biography
Florencia Montes is chef and co-owner of Onice in Nice, France, where the restaurant earned one MICHELIN Guide star in 2024 and one star again in the MICHELIN Guide 2025. The recognition rests on seasonal cooking shaped by Provençal terroir, Argentine and Italian points of origin, and a disciplined attention to product, sauce and contrast.
The Honours
The clearest accolade is the MICHELIN Guide’s one-star recognition for Onice in 2024, followed by one star again in the 2025 guide. For a restaurant built around a compact seasonal format, that repeat recognition gives weight to the precision of the kitchen rather than to spectacle. Born in La Plata, Argentina, Montes brings an Argentine identity to the table in Nice. At the restaurant, that background enters into dialogue with Lorenzo Ragni’s Italian roots, while the cooking remains rooted in Provençal terroir.
The Craft
Onice serves seasonal cuisine as a 5- or 7-step menu that changes with nature’s cycles. The structure is concise, but the cooking is not narrow: raw materials, technique and precise flavors are the working vocabulary of Montes and Ragni. Product integrity sits at the center of the menu. Dishes are built with deep sauces, balanced contrasts, sharp flavors and coherent technique, a set of choices that makes the plate read clearly without stripping it of complexity. Ingredients come from local producers, artisans and markets, then are handled with passion and creativity. That sourcing gives the restaurant a close relationship with the region around Nice, while the menu’s changing rhythm keeps the cooking tied to season rather than repetition. A delicate cuttlefish tagliatelle with lemon and citron vinaigrette has been cited as a signature highlight. Sea bass paired with a champagne emulsion and cockles is another cited highlight, joining marine clarity with a sauce-driven register. Blood orange sorbet with koji rice and green cardamom shows the same interest in contrast, moving the menu toward acidity, fermentation and spice. Montes’s view of hospitality is direct: “The image should never overshadow the essential: the pleasure of taste.” That same thinking shapes the dining room, where she favors adapting service to guests over rigid table-service traditions: “Here at the restaurant, we don’t use tablecloths. We try to follow a certain protocol, but always with the idea of not disturbing our guests.”
The Career
Her career history includes kitchen roles at Chila, Septime and Eleven Madison Park, three named stages in a path that placed her in demanding kitchens before her work in the south of France. In 2020, she was Chef de Cuisine at Mirazur in Menton, France. Travel has also been part of her formation as a cook. “Thanks to my profession I have traveled a lot; even to some places that I could never ever have dreamt of visiting. I have cooked in incredible and unexpected places, sometimes under unimagined conditions.” Now based in Nice through her role as chef and co-owner, Montes works from a menu language that is seasonal, precise and personal without becoming autobiographical alone. The Argentine root is present; the Italian counterpoint through Ragni is present; Provence is the ground under both.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Florencia
What is Florencia Montes's most notable recognition?
Florencia Montes’s most notable recognition is one MICHELIN Guide star for Onice in 2024 and again in the MICHELIN Guide 2025.
What is Florencia Montes known for?
She is known for seasonal cuisine at Onice, including a 5- or 7-step menu shaped by raw materials, precise flavors, deep sauces and balanced contrasts.
What is Florencia Montes's current role?
Florencia Montes’s current role is chef and co-owner of Onice in Nice, France.
