Translated by Bethszabee Garner

The last time I met Arnaud Donckele was in Saint-Tropez. No appointment, just a casual visit, out of friendship for Olivier Raveyre, general director of the Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez hotel. I didn't even know the chef would be there. Between two trips to Paris for the huge project at the former Samaritaine, where Cheval Blanc Paris and its Plénitude restaurant would soon be opening, he liked to come to the shores of the Mediterranean sea to soak up the sun. The image I like to keep of him is seeing him arrive quietly, dressed in classic jeans, a sturdy apron and a straw hat, a basket on his arm, secateurs in one hand, and sitting down quietly with a glass of water, even if I won't forget the image of his overwhelming joy at the recent ceremony organized by the Michelin guide in Cognac for the awarding of the two 3 stars 2022 (with his friend Dimitri Droineau at the villa Madie in Cassis) when his name and that of the restaurant rang out in a packed hall, to the cheers of his peers.

I met him for the first time when he arrived at what was then the I met him for the first time when he arrived at what was then the Résidence de la Pinede, a renowned 5-star hotel on Bouillabaisse beach – you can't make this stuff up! – at the gateway to the famous city, which is easily accessible on foot. The year is 2004. The restaurant La Vague d'Or has already been awarded a star, thanks to the talented Olivier Brulard, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France), whom the young Arnaud knows well from having worked alongside him when he was Michel Guérard's second at the Près d'Eugénie. “The Guérard years were those of elegance, lightness and poetry,” he says. A transparent curtain in a ray of sunlight. Even back then, there was a huge vegetable garden from which we drew our happiness. 25 years later, I am returning more and more to this poetic approach to cooking.”

From Guérard to Ducasse

Born in Rouen, on the edge of Normandy, Arnaud spent his youth between his parents, who were butchers and caterers in Mantes-la-Jolie, and his paternal grandparents, who were farmers in Catenay, in the Seine-Maritime department. It was a happy childhood, already marked by a culinary environment when his father was passionate about cooking and hunting and the land and its generosity already spoke to him. He left this world very early for the Ferrandi school in Paris at the age of 16, during which time he prepared for a professional diploma in cuisine, in a working program with chef Georges Landriot at Goumard Prunier, where, he says, he really acquired his foundations.

Then came the Landes, another region to discover, and Michel Guérard, the renowned grand chef with three Michelin stars since 1977... the year Arnaud was born! Line cook, section chef, sauce chef... the path was always straight ahead. “I had a lot of trouble at school as a child,” he recalls. I couldn't sit still. I did a lot of sports at the time, especially canoeing and kayaking. To punish me for my dismal results, my father would make me work in the workshop with his employees, his “team”. I had a small wooden desk with my knives. In reality, I was over the moon with these “big boys” aged 18 to 24, even though I was only 13 or 14! My greatest pleasure was to accompany them for meals outside. It was a real treat!”

He was 21 when he sent a spontaneous application to Alain Ducasse and joined Louis XV in Monaco, under the leadership of executive chef Franck Cerruti. Another great school, another great journey. The years went by and with them, the positions in the kitchen. Even those at Matignon for his military service. There was also time to pass through the Plaza Athénée before returning to the principality. In 2001, Alain Ducasse made him second in command to Jean-Louis Nomicos, who took over Lasserre. He stayed there for three years before finally moving to Saint-Tropez to begin an exemplary marathon. “Alain Ducasse taught me rigor, but it was his approach to the product, and consequently to the producer, that left its mark on my years with him,” says Arnaud. ”He is a pioneer in his field and I have never departed from this way of working.”

I remember very well my first meal at Arnaud's, at La Vague d'or, which was one of a kind. It wasn't just the food that was delicious, but the local flavor that came through. The young chef's menus were already wild. A controlled madness, a joyful madness. And a second Michelin star came to salute this work and enthusiasm in 2010. I remember another dinner at that time. There was something more. This gold wave had swept everyone away, like a tidal wave. The dining room service, conducted like a theatrical performance by Thierry Di Tullio, played a full part in this dinner show, where even the plates and their supports had been designed and conceived by the chef. He himself suddenly became voluble, whereas he was previously the epitome of discretion. It didn't take long for a third star to come and salute this harmonious ensemble. “I am self-taught in Provençal cuisine. I fed on reading and mainly on Jean Giono,” continues Arnaud. ““My cuisine reveals the landscape. The landscape helps us understand the cuisine,” said the man of letters he often quotes. ”My cuisine here had to be a postcard of Provence and I had to tell that story in my dishes.”

In the meantime, the hotel was bought by the LVMH group and was renamed Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez. Meanwhile, the Parisian works were coming to an end, but Covid postponed the opening of this majestic entity. It took place in the spring of 2021 to a chorus of praise, saluting both the signed achievement of architects Peter Marino and Édouard François and Arnaud's cuisine at the gourmet restaurant Plénitude. Just one year later, and a few days before its 45th birthday, the restaurant, and with it Arnaud Donckele, were awarded three stars at once, something that had not happened in thirty years!

“Plénitude (fullness) is the perfect word to sum up my state of mind today. I had plenty of time to prepare for this challenge and I knew how to approach it. I have always loved sauces – a vivid paternal memory with its ham broths. I wanted to shout loud and clear my taste for sauces, all sauces, white butters, sabayons... I consider myself more of a sauce maker than a cook. The sauce is the heart and soul of the dish. The vegetables should not overpower the sauce. In fact, our current policy in the restaurant is to make it clear that customers have not chosen a product but a sauce. On the menu, an “absolute” explains the composition of each sauce. And gourmets understand this approach very well. In fact, I am currently training a team of sauce makers. They must have at least four years of cooking experience before tackling this art.”

As the two restaurants approach a summer season that promises to be exemplary, with booking records that make it quite difficult to secure a table, Arnaud Donckele is taking the time to stabilize his two three-starred entities in order to perpetuate his work and that of his teams, of which he is a demanding and affectionate “father”. This is also the case for his family life. With his wife and their two children (18 and 20 years old), family happiness is a real life lesson. “I don't do much sport anymore, but being with my wife and my children is a real joy, a relationship full of depth.” This dual personal and professional reality is hardly surprising in his company. The stars are also in his eyes.

Article written by Bernard Van de Kerckhove to be found in issue n°1 of OniriQ Magazine.