Shintaro Awa takes over from Bernard Pacaud at L'Ambroisie
Japanese chef Shintaro Awa, trained in the temples of French gastronomy, embarks on a new era for L'Ambroisie, an institution on Paris's Place des Vosges.
A pivotal moment for French haute cuisine. On June 26, L'Ambroisie (5 toques, Membre de l'Académie Gault&Millau), the emblematic restaurant nestled on the Place des Vosges in Paris, announced the appointment of Shintaro Awa as its new head chef. He takes over from Bernard Pacaud, a respected and admired figure whose discretion and exacting standards have shaped the identity of a place as rare as it is unalterable.
A highly symbolic handover
There are homes where every movement, every silence, every plate counts. L'Ambroisie is such a place. at the age of 77, Bernard Pacaud is handing over the reins after decades devoted to bringing to life a cuisine founded on precision, restraint and a lofty idea of French tradition. His retirement, announced without much fanfare, is accompanied by a measured transition. This discreet but fundamental handover is part of a commitment to continuity. The purchase of the restaurant in 2023 by Walter Butler, who claims to want to preserve the soul of the place, had paved the way for this evolution, conceived as a continuation, not a break.
An exemplary career
Shintaro Awa, 40, arrived from Japan 18 years ago and is anything but a discovery. He trained in some of France's most prestigious establishments: with Régis and Jacques Marcon, Paul Bocuse, Plaza Athénée, then for over a decade at Le Bristol alongsideÉric Frechon. A faultless career, in which learning rigor was coupled with an intimate understanding of French culinary identity. It was this fidelity to tradition, this rigor of gesture and this humility of approach that attracted Walter Butler.
By entrusting its reins to a Japanese chef who loves France, L'Ambroisie offers a rare example of smooth transmission, in a world where rupture is often celebrated. Shintaro Awa embodies a subtle balance between fidelity and new inspiration, in a house where tradition is not dogma, but living matter to be prolonged.
The challenge is great, but the approach deeply sincere. For lovers of classic cuisine, of confident gestures, of refined yet inhabited dishes, this new page has only just begun.
