Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is one in every of the UK’s best-loved and most-recognisable eating places – the lavender-fringed path resulting in the buttery stone manor home, the sprawling kitchen gardens, the specifically commissioned sculptures dotted about the grounds. Until lately, company at the restaurant had been as more likely to spot Raymond Blanc OBE, the iconic French chef who based this two-Michelin-starred pioneering restaurant in 1982, pottering about the lawns.
But in 2025, Blanc introduced that as the resort and restaurant would shut its doorways for greater than a yr for renovations, he, too, could be stepping again from his position at Le Manoir, which has held two Michelin stars for a staggering 4 many years. Now we all know who can be his successor when the resort reopens in 2027 – the kitchen can be coming into a brand new period below the stewardship of Arnaud Donckele.
Who is Arnaud Donckele, the new culinary director at Le Manoir?
Donckele – additionally a French chef – has led the cost at three-Michelin-star La Vague d’Or at Cheval Blanc St-Tropez and “Plénitude” at Cheval Blanc Paris. In 2027, he’ll grow to be the culinary director at Le Manoir.
He says of the transfer, “To bring my cuisine to the UK for the first time, at a place as magical and meaningful as Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, is a profound honour. I have long admired Raymond Blanc’s ethos of respect for nature and commitment to sustainability. Entrusted by Belmond, I am thrilled to craft the next chapter of Le Manoir’s illustrious story, all while meticulously preserving its cherished spirit.”
What can folks anticipate from Arnaud Donckele’s cooking?
As the mastermind behind two three-Michelin-starred French eating places, it is maybe unsurprising that Donckele’s type of cooking is refined – a contemporary tackle classical French methods which places storytelling by way of meals entrance and centre. We do not know precisely how that may translate on the plate but, however we’re certain to be one in every of the first to seek out out.