Chef Jaïs Mimoun Brought His Cult Paris Restaurant To Ibiza This Summer

Most restaurants that expand beyond their home country pick a capital city or a splashy address. Jais went the opposite direction, opting for a preserved Spanish-style finca off a back road in Ibiza. It came as a surprise because it's the first location they opened outside France after a decade built entirely around Paris.

Jais opened in the French capital's 7th arrondissement in 2016 without much marketing, quiet online. Packed with regulars who know to book ahead, the spot built a reputation. Last year, Chef Jais Mimoun expanded to Ramatuelle and Courchevel. This summer, for the first time, he took the name outside France entirely. Jais Ibiza opened June 4, seating 100 to 110 guests a night in a stone-walled courtyard.

The restaurant opens as an elegant dinner service and loosens as the night goes on. Its known that a table that sat down at 8pm could still there at midnight, in no hurry to leave. And, Mimoun built it that way on purpose.

Mimoun grew up around a stove. His parents founded Le Tagine, a Moroccan restaurant in Paris's 11th arrondissement. He was in their kitchen on weekends before he could legally work in one. His career began with training under Rodolphe Paquin at Repaire de Cartouche. Then, he spent time at Le Bristol under Eric Frechon, and took over his first kitchen, Au Petit Tonneau, at 22. In 2012, he opened Le Petit Celestin with his brother Yanice. Four years later came Jais, built with both brothers, Yanice and Samy, to run the room while Jais ran the kitchen.

Ibiza is personal to him in a different way. "Ibiza has been part of my life for a long time," Mimoun says in a phone interview. "I first came when I was 18 and have returned almost every summer since, so opening here feels very personal. I have watched the island's food culture evolve while retaining its own character, and it felt like the right moment to bring Jais here."

He is careful about what that expansion should and should not mean. "We are not trying to make Jais into an Ibiza restaurant," he says. "We are bringing something that already has its own history, cooking and personality and allowing it to exist in a different environment. Paris and my Moroccan heritage remain important, but the setting changes how those influences are experienced. It needs to feel like Jais first."

Jais built its reputation in Paris partly on a pasta dish layered with caviar and wagyu cecina. It's a dish so quietly famous that regulars order it without checking if it is still on the menu. For Ibiza, Mimoun rebuilt it around paella instead of pasta as a direct nod to Spain.

"I wanted the dish to have a conversation with Spain without turning the menu into Spanish cuisine," he says of the Paella with Wagyu Cecina and Caviar. "We took something familiar from the local culinary landscape and reinterpreted it through the Jais approach. The result is playful, but also a genuine acknowledgement of where we are."

The rest of the menu splits between dishes that have followed him from address to address alongside new ones built specifically for sharing, which he says was a deliberate choice for how people actually eat on the island. "There is a balance," he says. "Some dishes are important to the identity of Jais, but Ibiza also gave us a reason to create differently. I don't want guests to feel they have simply been transported to Paris. There should be plenty of discovery too." Balearic ingredients factor in, though not as a headline gesture. "We wanted to respect the location rather than simply recreate our Paris menu," he says. "At the same time, Jais has a particular identity that I don't want to lose. It is about finding the point where the two meet."

Most restaurants opening on a Spanish island lean into a Spanish-leaning cellar. Jais imported its list from Paris instead, treating the restaurant as much as a wine bar as a dining room.

"Wine has always been an important part of the Jais experience, so we wanted to bring that identity with us," Mimoun says. "Rather than creating a completely separate programme, guests can discover the depth and diversity of the collection we have developed in Paris. It keeps the restaurant connected to our other addresses." The list mixes recognizable names with less obvious producers, built, he says, "to encourage curiosity, whether someone already knows wine well or simply wants the team to introduce them to something unexpected."

Ask Mimoun how Jais Ibiza differs from Paris or Ramatuelle and he goes straight to pacing. "The DNA stays the same, but the rhythm changes," he says. "Ibiza is much more fluid. People may arrive for dinner and end up staying for the whole evening. The food remains refined, but the experience becomes more relaxed and energetic as the night develops."

Asked what a first-time guest should order, Mimoun doesn't hesitate. "I would start with dishes designed to be shared, as that best captures the spirit of the restaurant," he says. "I would definitely try the Paella with Wagyu Cecina and Caviar, alongside some of our signatures, and then let the wine team choose something from the Paris collection. The ideal Jais evening is a table full of food, a good bottle and staying longer than you planned."

This article was originally published on Forbes.com