{"id":24207,"date":"2026-01-25T08:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T07:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/arnaud-donckele-and-the-manoir\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:06:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:06:44","slug":"arnaud-donckele-and-the-manoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/portrait\/arnaud-donckele-and-the-manoir\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnaud Donckele and the Manoir"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s always a joy and a privilege to talk to Arnaud Donckele. For all these years, it’s as if we’ve been following each other, near and far, along the Mediterranean or the Seine. Arnaud is one of those people who move quietly, but whose every step resonates for a long time. Discreet, humble, deeply committed to his profession, he caused quite a stir last week when he announced that he was taking over the kitchens of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, a restaurant founded and run by Raymond Blanc for forty years. <\/p>\n

Contacted by telephone, Arnaud Donckele is true to form: disciplined, attentive, available. He takes little time, but gives a lot. We both wanted to talk about this great news. <\/p>\n

\"MQS
Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons \u00a9DR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

House of Soul<\/h2>\n

For him, the Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons is a place like no other. It’s one of those houses with a soul, magnified by radiant beauty. Along with Michel Gu\u00e9rard’s Les Pr\u00e9s d’Eug\u00e9nie and Jean-Andr\u00e9 Charial’s L’Oustau de Baumani\u00e8re, the Manoir is, in his eyes, one of those mythical countryside places where time no longer seems to be linked to the passing hours. These are houses borne of landscapes, but above all of characters. <\/p>\n

Raymond Blanc is one of them. A French chef who succeeded in England and has become a veritable myth, like Daniel Boulud or Jean-Georges in the United States. “A man who, very early on, put his feet in the soil to nourish the plate, with his kitchen gardens, his herbs, his gardens conceived as a natural extension of the kitchen,” says Arnaud Donckele. It’s a vision he shared with Michel Gu\u00e9rard back in the ’80s: a cuisine that goes beyond mere luxury. <\/p>\n

\"Arnaud
Arnaud Donckele and Raymond Blanc \u00a9DR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The vegetable garden on your plate<\/h2>\n

Arnaud Donckele had always looked at this Manoir from a distance. He’d heard about it all his life, from friends, cooks, during stories of passage and training. He’d never really stopped to think about it, but it was there, somewhere, in the corner of his mind. Then one day, he went there almost by chance, to accompany his shareholder. He wasn’t there to pick up, only to look. But his eyes didn’t cheat: he was overwhelmed. Meeting Raymond Blanc was simple, almost obvious. The admiration was palpable and mutual. And very quickly, the idea was born: Raymond wanted Arnaud to be his successor. Arnaud returned to Paris, and a few days later, the proposal fell through. Sometimes, you don’t have to force fate. <\/p>\n

“I finally have a vegetable garden next to my plates,” he says, almost smiling. Six hectares, seven gardeners, orchards, fruit trees. At the age of forty-eight, he feels as though he’s achieved an absolute dream: a life-size playground. And then there’s England. A land of which he was the contemplative spectator, with modesty, almost with fear, he the French-speaker not at ease with the language of Shakespeare. His wife, passionate about English culture, gently prepared him. Today, he speaks of sweet revenge, of a strange destiny: what he didn’t dare approach comes to him, naturally. Raymond told him: “You’ll learn English the way I learned cooking: self-taught, on the job.” He agreed. <\/p>\n

\"{%ALT_TEXT%}\"
Arnaud Donckele and Raymond Blanc \u00a9DR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raymond Blanc the irreplaceable<\/h2>\n

For Arnaud, this project is a consecration, but without triumphalism. We’re talking about an emotional shaker: a whole life of work, self-sacrifice, successes and failures suddenly concentrated in a single moment. Now it’s all about one thing: living up to the reputation of this legendary house, the most French of English houses. He makes it clear: he will never replace Raymond. Because Raymond is irreplaceable. From now on, the star will be the Manoir. He will be there to serve the house, not to use it. <\/p>\n

The project is already well advanced. The large table will be reduced from just over sixty covers to forty every evening. The business model is changing. A bistro-gastro, open seven days a week, will be created, very country, very English, wood and contemporary simplicity. The school will be named Blanc, in homage. An alternative table will be set up in the gardens, more accessible, more lively. And then there will be the gastronomic table, which Donckele wants to be “extremely poetic”. A table that breathes poetry as a matter of course. <\/p>\n

\"Arnaud
Arnaud Donckele in front of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons \u00a9DR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Living in a place<\/h2>\n

For five months of the year, Arnaud Donckele will divide his time between Le Manoir, Pl\u00e9nitude and La Vague d’Or. In winter, he will return to two houses. He knows the effort and demands this rhythm requires. But he loves it. He is surrounded by collaborators who have grown up with his projects, who know the houses by heart. He doesn’t believe in projects you visit three days a month. He believes in places you live in. <\/p>\n

At the end of our conversation, I always feel the same thing: simple gratitude. That of being able to speak with a chef whom I admire as much for his dishes as for his way of being. Discreet, humble, but deeply inhabited. Today, Arnaud Donckele enters a mythical house. And something tells me that he and the house were made for each other. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arnaud Donckele is about to write a new chapter in his history by taking over the kitchens of the Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Raymond Blanc’s legendary home. A meeting between two visions and the same idea of the kitchen as a place of soul. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Arnaud Donckele and the Manoir | Restaurant Oxford | Edouard Amoiel","description":"Arnaud Donckele is about to write a new chapter in his history by taking over the kitchens of the Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Raymond Blanc's legendary home. A me"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[],"restaurants-par-lieux":[409],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-24207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portrait","restaurants-par-lieux-oxford"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27179,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions\/27179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=24207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}