International
Armand ARNAL
Chef : 1 restaurant
"My great-grandmother was the doyenne of the Montpellier market. At closing time, we'd all get together, fishmongers, butchers, charcutiers or market gardeners, around a big generous table. It was this sense of sharing that made me want to move into the kitchen", and so it was that Armand Arnal left school at 16 to apprentice with Pierre Hermé at Fauchon. He then moved on to Bruno Caironi's in Bar-sur-Seine, in the Aube region, before heading to Paris to work with Jean-Louis Nomicos at La Grande Cascade, and then with brothers Christian and Philippe Conticini at La Table d'Anvers.
But Armand Arnal was keen to broaden his culinary horizons: in 1997, he flew to the United States, where he began working with Daniel Boulud, one of the leading exponents of French gastronomy on the other side of the Atlantic. In 2000, he continued his American adventure with Alain Ducasse, helping to open the Essex House as chef de partie. The great chef then invited him to return to France to join the team at his Alain Ducasse Formation school in Argenteuil, then entrusted him with a consulting mission for the European space program: "In 2005, I developed recipes for astronauts."
With his head in the stars, Armand Arnal continued his ascent at the La Chassagnette restaurant in Arles, owned by patron Maja Hoffmann, founder of the LUMA foundation. Charmed by the premises, he took up his first position as chef. "I'm originally from Montpellier, so I knew the region well. I fell in love with the place. This place chose me." He discovered an incredible vegetable garden, a source of inspiration that he developed over time. " My cooking is connected to this vegetable garden and to everything I can find within a 100-kilometer radius, no more." No doubt one of the reasons why the Guide Jaune awarded him the Naturalité trophy in 2018.
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