Philip CHRONOPOULOS

Chef : Le Taillevent From Venice to Paris, Philip Chronopoulos showcases his Greek heritage through bold recipes. Here’s how his journey led him to take the helm at Nolinsky.

Presentation

Initially drawn to industrial design, Philip Chronopoulos discovered cooking by a twist of fate: a friend of his father’s, a food enthusiast, gave him his spot in a pastry class. The young Greek man then decided to pursue a career in the culinary world. At age 18, on the advice of Breton chef Jacques Thorel, he flew to France to enroll in the Paul Bocuse School. “I didn’t even know how to hard-boil an egg or speak three words of French,” he recalls.

After some time in Lyon, he left for London to join Joël Robuchon’s Atelier. “The days were endless, but I wanted to show my family that I could do it.” Upon his return to Paris, he joined L’Arpège, under Alain Passard. “There was a beauty to his movements—it was inspiring,” he recalls. He was then hired as a commis at the Laboratoire Robuchon for three and a half years. “It was incredible—there was Mr. Robuchon, my mentor Éric Bouchenoire, and two junior chefs, including me. It was like a never-ending masterclass.”

Reconnecting with His Roots

In 2011, he had to return to Greece to complete his military service. The chef experienced this as a culture shock. Afterward, he became a chef on a yacht while toying with the idea of opening a restaurant in Athens, but Éric Bouchenoire called him to offer him a position atL’Atelier Étoile. He left in 2015, at age 29, as head chef. “I’d been working for Mr. Robuchon for seven years. It was time for me to create and make my own mark.”

That’s how he took the helm of the kitchen at the Palais Royal Restaurant, part of the Evok Collection, in 2015. But the 2020 lockdown turned his vision of cooking upside down. “I started to question myself. I didn’t want to be seen as a Greek chef who made Greek food, even though that was the obvious choice.” Upon his return to the kitchen, he let loose and reconnected with his roots.