Arthur FRIESS

Chef : 1 restaurant A disciple of Alain Ducasse, Arthur Friess works wonders at the helm of 26-28 in Lorient.

Presentation

Although he grew up in the Yvelines, not far from Versailles, Arthur Friess loved spending time with his grandparents in the Lower Normandy countryside near Flers. Although he didn't immediately turn to cooking, first taking a BTS in commerce, the future winner of the Cuisine de la Mer Bretagne trophy has no regrets whatsoever about his life as a restaurateur.

A first experience at the Royal Monceau

Once I'd finished my BTS, I quickly realized that it wasn't for me," he explains. I joined an annex of Ferrandi to take an accelerated CAP cuisine. I then obtained a vocational diploma and joined the Royal Monceau as an apprentice. I stayed there for four years, during which I had the chance to discover all the facets of a palace with the chef, Roberto Rispoli."

Inspired by Alain Ducasse's version of naturalness

Although he was thinking of leaving the world of luxury hotels, Arthur Friess then joined Romain Meder at the Plaza Athénée. An experience which, he says, transformed him, as he was not necessarily very sensitive to the concept of naturalness before working in the palace on Avenue Montaigne. "I started out as a commis at the Plaza Athénée, and came out as a chef de partie saucier, having above all again learned a lot from Alain Ducasse and Romain Meder."

Chef of his own restaurant at 31

With his wife Charlotte, who left the hospital environment to follow him on the adventure, the young chef made the choice at the end of 2019 to settle in Lorient - "A town sometimes disparaged but whose energy we adore." A bar was for sale, and the couple transformed it into a lively little table. Although the initial momentum was quickly dampened by successive confinements, 26-28 is now sailing under buoyant trade winds. In 2024, Gault&Millau awarded them a fine score of 14.5/20 and the Cuisine de la Mer trophy for the Brittany region.