Arnaud Donckele in 5 dishes
From La Vague d'Or to Plénitude, Arnaud Donckele has turned sauce into an art form in its own right. Considered one of the great master sauciers of his generation, the chef takes a look back at five outstanding dishes, essential milestones in his career and indicative of his culinary universe.
For Arnaud Donckele, sauce is more than just a binder: it's a language, a manifesto, sometimes even an obsession. At both Plénitude (5 toques in Paris) and La Vague d'Or (5 toques in Saint-Tropez), it structures the thought process of the dish, carries its memory and shapes its emotion. "We're not talking about classic sauces, but about sauces that are assembled, like a perfume or a wine," explains the chef. Up to fifteen ingredients can be used in their composition, worked with the precision of a perfumer - not with the nose, but with the palate. These sauces, built with a profound modernity, seek to be addictive, obvious and long-lasting. In five outstanding dishes, Arnaud Donckele recounts a career in which sauces have become an absolute signature.
Sardine, velours d'Eden: an accident that became a signature
It's a signature, founding dish, almost a manifesto. "Sardines are my favorite fish in terms of strength and taste," confides Arnaud Donckele, who loves the contrast between a great table and a product considered less than noble. Inexpensive but technically demanding, sardines require "more work than a big fish". His sauce, Eden Velvet, was born of an accident: a failed vitello tonnato sauce, reworked, seasoned, rethought. "From this basewere born the first velvet sauces, created in Saint-Tropez. Eden is the culmination of this lineage: a fresh, addictive, aniseed-flavored sauce, marked by tagetes, fennel and Provence. A sauce that envelops, that lingers, and that beckons the next bite.
Two interpretations of rabbit, two vivid memories
Rabbit occupies a special place in Arnaud Donckele's career, to the point of becoming his meat of choice. An attachment deeply rooted in childhood. "When my maternal grandmother wanted to please me, she would cook rabbit with mustard and tarragon", he recalls. This dish left a lasting impression on his taste buds. Later, Arnaud Donckele worked at the Louis XV in Monaco, alongsideAlain Ducasse, where rabbit was on the menu. "At Plénitude, rabbit is expressed in a contemporary,uncluttered interpretation, conceived as a starter. The chef plays on temperature contrasts, between hot and cold, with cime di rapa, rosemary and a vinaigrette made from a pectinated consommé - a novel technique at the time, opening up a new field of expression for the sauce.
at La Vague d'Or, rabbit takes on a profoundly human dimension with Claudette-style rabbit and blue lobster. The story goes back to 2010, just a few weeks before the restaurant opened. Thierry Di Tullio, Restaurant Manager and fellow chef Arnaud Donckele, was going through a difficult ordeal at the time: his mother, Claudette, fell into a coma three weeks before the inauguration. Shortly before this tragedy, Claudette had cooked a rabbit with shrimps for Arnaud Donckele. A simple, family gesture that will live long in the memory. In response, the chef turned his menu upside down and came up with a tribute dish: rabbit, potatoes, chestnut honey, rosemary and blue lobster. He let Thierry taste it, explaining that it was a tribute to his mother. "It was a way of having Claudette by our side," he recalls. The dish continues to appear regularly on the menu, becoming much more than a creation: a symbol of affiliation, loyalty and cooking as a bond.
Market garden score, eating sauce: an ode to plants
This dish expresses Arnaud Donckele's relationship with plants, with the earth, with the market gardeners who surround his homes. "I've always had a very strong bond with the vegetable garden. Especially since I met Michel Guérard and his 'feet in the soil' philosophy, which had a profound effect on me", explains the chef. The vegetable score also serves to underline the difference between Plénitude and La Vague d'Or: two restaurants, two philosophies, two vegetable-based styles. The sauce, here, is central: a marbled coulis, a vinaigrette-herb coulis, pioneering in its time, conceived as a sauce to be eaten, original, alive, built from the vegetable itself.
Langoustine, squash and rosemary: the sabayon revolution
Created in 2007, shellfish sabayon, made from the oil of carcasses and coral, was completely new at the time. Now widely adopted, it remains, for Arnaud Donckele, one of his most accomplished creations. "The dish only lasts a few months on the menu, but it concentrates a rare emotion: elegance, sensuality, legibility. A comforting, almost carnal harmony. "There's something cuddly about this dish."
Satin composition, citrus rose: a symbiosis with Maxime Frédéric
This dessert tells the story of a creative encounter and fusion. In 2012, Arnaud Donckele and Maxime Frédéric imagined a citrus pectin sauce incorporating the endocarps (the micro-particles of the supreme) like caviar. A first. Tired of ice shavings, the two chefs dreamed of something different. The idea arose during a stroll on the Île Saint-Louis, in front of an Italian ice cream shop serving flower-shaped sorbets.
It would take a year of work, testing and persistence to make this vision a reality for haute gastronomie. "It's a perfect example of Maxime's magic, his ability to never forget an idea until it's right," admires Arnaud Donckele. This dessert embodies their dialogue, their shared visions, and five years of fruitful collaboration.
