There will finally be two new three-stars in the 2022 Michelin Guide: Arnaud Donckele for Plénitude, a new gourmet restaurant located at the Cheval Blanc in the former Samaritaine in Paris. La Table d’Olivier Nasti at Le Chambard in Kaysersberg in Alsace. And Dimitri Droisneau, who we didn’t see coming, for his Villa Madie borrows Mediterranean flavors from Cassis.
The first is not unknown, far from it. And even a chef whose career is akin to flawlessness. Because getting three stars all at once is an extremely rare feat, but it’s probably easier when you already have three stars for another table, in this case La Vague d’Or in St-Tropez, and this since 2013 The man and his cuisine are unanimously acclaimed since he has held five Gault Millau toques and a score of 19/20 since 2016. And his peers even elected him “the greatest starred chef in the world” in 2019… So what can he still dream of now, knowing that even his pastry chef Maxime Frédéric has won the pastry star… Suffice to say that this Plénitude address, which already made people dream, will not fail to fill up over the next few month.
On the two-star side, the surprise comes from the restaurant of the Palais Royal, in the very beautiful setting of the gardens of the same name, where we did not expect such a party the Greek chef Philip Chronopoulos, who worked in particular at the Workshop of Joël Robuchon-Étoile and with Alain Passard, but after all why not. More anticipated, on the other hand, are Table, Bruno Verjus’ Parisian restaurant, Duende Gagnaire’s table in Nîmes, David Bizet at L’Oiseau blanc at the Peninsula hotel in Paris, Jérôme Scilling for Lalique in Bommes (33), the Blue Bay of Martiniquais Marcel Ravin in Monaco…
Many Top Chefs but few female chefs
Of the 627 starred restaurants, 41 tables get their first star, that’s the number of the day. They were 54 last year. Notable facts concerning former Top Chefs: Jean Imbert wins the first star of his career at the Plaza Athénée, Victor Mercier of the locavore restaurant Fief receives the star for young chef of the year… But also, Florent Ladeyn at the Auberge du Mont vert in the North and Ludovic Turac for Une Table au Sud in Marseille regain their lost star, the first in 2019 and the second in 2020.
And women ? They are discreet on the list this year: A star for Alessandra Del Favero from the Royal Monceau restaurant Il Carpaccio, for Anne-Sophie Pic and for Hélène Darroze with their new tables… “It’s not much” recognizes the international director of the guides Gwendal Poullennec who nevertheless predicts that with “all the changes observed in the kitchen in recent months, things are bound to change”.