Arnaud Donckele - Rider of taste at Cheval Blanc
Gastronomic translation of ineffable emotion, the French chef creates rare cuisine, layered with feelings and memories. Honoring the restaurants La Vague d'Or and Plénitude (Cheval Blanc) with 3 stars in the Michelin Guide with his touching work, Arnaud Donckele draws on a life of fruitful encounters.
At the roots of emotion, in its very etymology, the notion of movement manifests itself. No wonder then, that through his cuisine of attachment and affection, Arnaud Donckele becomes the guardian of what upsets and shakes. Moved since his earliest childhood by the perfect stratagem of a nature which renews itself prodigiously when man respects it, the chef of the restaurants La Vague d'Or and Plénitude transmits through the plate a sentimental impulse which itself exceeds him .
While the culinary experience and its theater of taste seem to fuel the discussions of gastronomes, Arnaud Donckele prefers to commemorate at each service the choreography that the heart of those who feast, seated alongside those they love, do. For this, the discreet man, but deserving of all superlatives, surrounds himself with enthusiasts as sensitive as he is.
Grandson of Norman farmers and grass breeders, son of a charcutier-caterer, godson of a market gardener, the chef effortlessly glimpses the rhizomes that weave the fabric of an exceptional terroir: “So that a beef is exceptional, the quality of its fat is of capital importance. This then assumes that the cow can graze between the woods and the meadow daily in order to develop remarkable fat. Breeders, ready to spend 45 minutes every day to accompany their animals to the woods and return to the barn, have a precious grain of madness that I share. »
In the kitchens of La Vague d'Or and Plénitude , respectively under the leadership of the institutions Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez and Cheval Blanc Paris , Arnaud Donckele transcribes through flavor these famous movements at the root of emotion. The spontaneity of a barely seared meat, the liveliness of a zest, the caress of a caramelization with notes of amber: so many gestures, connections and know-how which reward the two restaurants with 3 stars in the Guide Michelin. Just that.
Between the Côte d'Azur – which became his adopted land after his formative stint at Louis XV in Monaco under the aegis of Alain Ducasse – and the capital, the Norman native found a dynamic satisfying his aspirations as a scout. On the lookout for the singular product to which the golden sun gives its colors or the spice which awakens memories of Indian summer, the chef fully embraces his Swiss Army knife profession: one foot in the fields, the other in the kitchen .
