Gault&Millau 2027 has its Chef of the Year, and he cooked his own coronation dinner. On Monday 9 November, under the glass of the Carrousel du Louvre, the yellow guide named Jérôme Banctel, chef of Le Gabriel at La Réserve Paris, its Cuisinier de l’Année 2027 — the same evening he signed the gala menu served to around 600 guests.
This year the house added a twist worthy of the setting. The 2026 gala was built around an unprecedented theme, “Food is Art”, and with it came a brand-new distinction: the Trophée Illustrateur, created to reward an artist able to translate the richness of a chef’s work into images. Four illustrators were nominated, all asked to interpret the same Banctel menu.
Gault&Millau 2027: Jérôme Banctel, Chef of the Year
Discreet, precise and long admired by his peers, the Rennes-born chef has run the kitchens of La Réserve Paris since 2015, after formative years alongside Bernard Pacaud at L’Ambroisie and as Alain Senderens’s right hand at Lucas Carton. Gault&Millau had already given him its Trophée Excellence in 2018. This time, Le Gabriel also climbs to five toques, the guide’s highest rating, as reported by several outlets including Sud Radio and Pressamedia.
He was chosen from a shortlist of four, according to Gault&Millau: Philippe Mille (Arbane, Reims), Julien Roucheteau (Restaurant des Rois, Beaulieu-sur-Mer) and David Toutain (Restaurant David Toutain, Paris). On stage, Banctel told Gault&Millau he was “super happy”, “moved” and “honoured”.
The rest of the 2027 honours list
The evening also celebrated the people who make a great table work, from the pass to the dining room:
- Grande de Demain: Nolwenn Corre, Hostellerie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu, Plougonvelin (Brittany)
- Young Talent: Noé Viviès, Jozy, Rennes
- Pastry Chef of the Year: Clément Réauté, Fleur de Loire, Blois
- Sommelière of the Year: Paz Levinson, Groupe Pic
- No-Low Sommelière of the Year (new): Orane Vanheule, Auberge du Vert Mont, Boeschepe
- Maître d’ of the Year: Olivier Bikao, Le Meurice Alain Ducasse, Paris
- Illustrator of the Year (new): Aude Danguy des Déserts
According to Les Nouvelles Gastronomiques, Le Gabriel is not alone in reaching five toques this year: Gérald Passedat’s Le Petit Nice in Marseille and Christophe Hay’s Fleur de Loire in Blois join it at the summit. A good week, then, for anyone who still believes the French table is moving forward rather than resting on its laurels.
Food is Art: four illustrators, one menu
The idea behind the new prize was simple and rather elegant. Gault&Millau invited artists to look at gastronomy the way chefs build a plate, with technique, emotion and creativity. The four nominees each tasted Banctel’s menu, then answered with their own hand; their works were shown at the Louvre during the gala, and the winning illustration was printed on every guest’s menu.
The laureate, Aude Danguy des Déserts, is a watercolourist and art director based near Brest, who founded the editorial design studio Studio Piaude in 2012 and recently illustrated Hugo Zeldine’s Ma pâtisserie en neuf saveurs (Solar). Invited to a preview lunch, she photographed every plate and asked about each ingredient. The stuffed carrot, cooked in slaked lime and served with a ginger and sea fennel sauce, surprised her; so did the Venezuelan chocolate and buckwheat dessert, its dome crowned with a fine lace flower.
“My wish was to illustrate the dishes as faithfully as possible, with the maximum of realism.” — Aude Danguy des Déserts, quoted by Gault&Millau
Her fellow nominees, as presented in the gala programme, offered three very different readings. Fanny Faria, winner of the Prix Jeunes Talents des Agents Associés in 2024, painted five acrylics on wood, structured by her signature black outline and a play of yellows and oranges. Australian-born Anna Vu, creator of the project Good Food Crap Drawing and a Parisian for three years, drew in felt-tip from photographs taken as she ate. Nidta Robert, sommelière and manager of Arborescence in Croix, where her illustrations accompany the cooking of her husband, chef Félix Robert, chose to capture the spirit of the plates rather than reproduce them.
Why it matters
Guides have long judged plates with words and numbers. By hanging drawings next to the toques, Gault&Millau reminds us that a great dish is first something we look at — and that Paris, from the Louvre to the Salon du Chocolat, remains the city where the table and the arts keep the same company. For Banctel, the night will be remembered twice: on the menu, and on the trophy.
Sources
- Gault&Millau — Jérôme Banctel Cuisinier de l’Année 2027 — 9 November 2026
- Gault&Millau — Aude Danguy, Illustratrice de l’Année 2027 — 9 November 2026
- Gault&Millau — Food is Art: the first Trophée Illustrateur — 27 July 2026
- Stéphane Larue — 9 November 2026
- Sud Radio — 9 November 2026
- Un Œil en Salle — 9 November 2026
- Les Nouvelles Gastronomiques — 10 November 2026
- Pressamedia — 10 November 2026
- Gault&Millau Gala 2026 programme, “Food is Art” — 9 November 2026
Cover photo: Photo: STAMP
