Yannick Alléno Named Chef of the Year 2015 by Gault&Millau

Yannick Alléno has been named Chef of the Year 2015 by French restaurant guide Gault&Millau.

Throughout his career, Alléno has featured regularly in the prestigious guide. He first appeared in 2003 and steadily climbed the ranks to achieve five “toques” in 2010 – the highest rating given by Gault&Millau. In 2007 – the same year he received his third Michelin star – Gault&Millau awarded the chef 18/20, among the guide’s highest possible scores.

Alléno, a well-established culinary figure who received his third Michelin star in 2007, was acknowledged by the guide as having led an outstanding career in French gastronomy, and long deserving the award.

The 2015 announcement from Gault&Millau says, “We could have rewarded [Alléno] seven or eight years ago, but 2015 is undeniably his year. His thought process on French cuisine and its fundamentals, the sauces and his work on extractions mark a turning point, not only in his career but in today’s vision of fine dining.”

Yannick Alléno is the culinary director of Alléno Paris at the Pavillon Ledoyen in Champs-Elysées, for which he received the honour. He is also Chef at the 1947 in Cheval Blanc, Courchevel, and helms restaurants at the Royal Mansour in Marrakech, the One&Only The Palm in Dubai, the Shangri-La Beijing and the 101 Tower in Taipei.

“Being named Chef of the Year was a real surprise,” said Alléno, “I didn’t expect it. What made me even happier was that they understood that my recent arrival at Pavillon Ledoyen marked a new stage in my life as a chef. Gault&Millau reviewers are excellent observers and the fact that they named me Chef of the Year means that along with my staff, we are on the right track, and that work and research carried out these last few years is bearing fruit.”

Passionate about French cuisine, Yannick Alléno is known for pioneering new research on modern sauces and introducing new techniques into his highly creative dishes. He has released many books about his culinary breakthroughs, including the most recent, ‘Sauces: Reflections of a Chef’ and ‘Ma Cuisine Française’.