Charles FONTÈS

Chef : 2 restaurants

Presentation

"They say the law leads to everything. Even to cooking!" enthuses Charles Fontès. With a grandfather who was a judge and an uncle who was a lawyer, it's hardly surprising that he went on to study law. However, at the age of 23, the young man was dreaming of a different life. He tried his luck at the Vatel school and was accepted.

Once his studies were completed, he left to train at the Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges in Courchevel. "I fell in love with cooking and with chef Pascal Kirsch. I told myself that when I was 30, I'd set up my own restaurant!" In the meantime, he spends his summers at the Moulin de l'Abbaye, in Brantôme (Dordogne). "That's where I did all the jobs and learned my trade."

After three years, the young chef moved to Paris to assist Alain Dutournier at Le Carré des Feuillants. "He had a real vision of the restaurant, and I learned a lot from him. As much as I'd learned to cook at Brantôme and Courchevel, I learned to run a restaurant at Carré des Feuillants."

This apprenticeship enabled him to realize his dream in 2007: to become chef and owner of the restaurant La Réserve Rimbaud, in Montpellier. Three years later, at the age of 35, Charles Fontès was elected Gault&Millau d'Or. Since 2019, in association with his brother François (a former rugby player and antique dealer) in the dining room, and Éric Cellier (chef at La Maison de la Lozère), he has been running L'Arbre, a panoramic restaurant and bar on the roof of the Arbre Blanc building.

I. B.

Biography & Awards

1976 Naissance à Montpellier

2000 Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges, à Courchevel, auprès de Pascal Kirsch

2003 Second d’Alain Dutournier au Carré des Feuillants, à Paris

2007 Chef-propriétaire du restaurant La Réserve Rimbaud, à Montpellier

2010 Trophée Gault&Millau d'Or

2019 Ouverture de L’Arbre, à Montpellier