Benoît Violier

French-Swiss chef

Biography

Benoît Violier (Saintes, 1971 – Crissier, 2016) was a French-Swiss chef who ran the three-Michelin-star Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, near Lausanne, and specialised in game cooking. His career belongs to the French and Swiss haute cuisine of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and his name became linked to wider debates about the place of elite dining in the food world.

Born in Saintes, in the Charente-Maritime, into a family of winegrowers, Violier began cooking at an early age. He started his training at sixteen with Didier Stéphan, and in 1991 he went to Paris to work with Joël Robuchon and other chefs. He also worked at the Ritz and at La Tour d'Argent. He later moved to Switzerland to work with Philippe Rochat, and when Rochat retired, Violier took over the restaurant, which he ran with his wife from 2012. He acquired Swiss citizenship around 2015.

In December 2015 the restaurant topped La Liste, a ranking promoted by the French foreign ministry as an alternative to the British 50 Best list. Earlier, in 2013, the Swiss edition of the Gault&Millau guide had named him chef of the year. He died at home in Crissier on 31 January 2016, aged 44, a death that shocked the profession. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that he may have been a victim of a wine fraud in which bottles were sold repeatedly without being delivered, a scheme that reportedly affected other well-known chefs too. The restaurant's management denied any link to it. He is remembered as a reference for game cooking and as a case that drew attention to the pressures of haute cuisine.

Key contributions

Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, with three Michelin stars and a menu centred on game, which topped La Liste in 2015.
Game cooking, the speciality that defined his work in Switzerland.
Chef of the year in the Swiss edition of Gault&Millau in 2013, recognition of his leadership of the kitchen.
Training with Joël Robuchon and other Parisian figures, a technical grounding visible in his approach to produce.

Trivia

A short-lived ranking. The December 2015 La Liste ranking placed his restaurant first only a month before his death, and the press then described him as the world's best chef.

A wine fraud. After his death it was reported that he had been deceived by a firm selling fine wines that were never delivered, a case that reportedly also affected other well-known chefs.