Yannick Alléno takes over Monsieur Dior: ‘What would Christian Dior do if he were to create a restaurant today?’

‘What would Christian Dior do if he were to create a restaurant today?’ mused Yannick Alléno, before taking the reins at the Monsieur Dior restaurant in Paris. The chef – who holds 17 Michelin stars across various other restaurants under his direction – now steers the culinary offering within 30 Montaigne, the cradle of the maison since 1946. Still home to its historic ateliers, the building has long been a temple of couture. With Alléno, it now sharpens its role as a stage for gastronomy.

Monsieur Dior by Yannick Alléno, Paris

Alléno succeeds Jean Imbert, who led Monsieur Dior’s opening in 2022, and also presides over Le Jardin (formerly La Pâtisserie) and Le Café at the same address. The Peter Marino-designed venue weaves Dior’s codes into a subtly modern mise-en-scène. Parquet floors and delicate caning nod to tradition, while chairs clad in the house’s black-and-white houndstooth sharpen the graphic edge. A scarlet feature wall appears pixelated, but look closer and it reveals a constellation of miniature images pulled from Dior’s archive.

For Alléno, the menu is stitched directly into Christian Dior’s legacy. Years ago, at a flea market, the chef stumbled upon a copy of La Cuisine Cousu-Main, a cookbook released by the maison in 1972, which he revisited for inspiration. The late French couturier’s spirit resurfaces in Alléno’s plates, where forms, textures and finishes are as important as flavour. Take, for example, the perfectly poached L’Œuf Christian Dior, topped with a quenelle of Prunier caviar and bathed in caviar-studded cream covering a layer of Paris ham aspic – a tradition, so legend has it, started by Dior himself during a dinner party with Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.

‘Like Christian Dior, I am rooted in my era. What I propose is to bring the spirit of the couturier to the cutting edge of contemporary culinary creation. Imagining a restaurant according to his vision, breathing new life into his spirit at the very heart of the boutique,’ says Alléno. ‘A place that offers customers a défilé of flavours on their plates every day. I want this lively place to fully embody its era, just as the house of Dior has always done with couture.’

Alléno’s philosophy, dubbed ‘Modern Cuisine’, is as radical as it is exacting. He approaches French gastronomy through the twin lenses of scientific technique and ancestral memory, reinventing the art of sauce through the extraction and fermentation of flavours. Monsieur Dior becomes the 19th restaurant under his direction.

Monsieur Dior by Yannick Alléno is located at 32 Av. Montaigne, 75008 Paris, France.