The story
The result is a constantly evolving expression of modern cuisine. The 2026 season, the restaurant's eleventh, brings three distinct residencies. In April and May, Zuri Camille de Souza returns to Arles. A chef and author born in Goa and now based in Marseille, her cooking draws on the traditions of southwest India and coastal cuisines, deeply seasonal and attentive to natural cycles. Her menu is personal, sincere, and generous, rooted in her Goan heritage and informed by her studies in human ecology.
Summer belongs to Clément Garbez. Originally from Nevers in Burgundy, he built his career in gastronomic restaurants, including a formative stint at Les Apothicaires in Lyon and as head chef for the opening of Ombellule, which earned a Michelin star in its first year. For his residency from June to August 2026, he offers an instinctive, highly seasonal cuisine that is vegetable-forward and full of relief — marked by acidity, umami, fermentations, and concentrated juices. His plates are legible, sensitive, and greedy.
In September and October, two Quebecois chefs, Felix Roy and Léo Côté, take over. Having cooked together in Montreal and refined their craft at restaurants like Mastard and Sabayon, they now bring their dialogue of roots and seasonality to the south of France. Their cooking is attentive and precise, aiming to reveal the product in its most just form — simple, refined, and designed to create emotion at the table.
The format is fixed-price and carte blanche. Lunch is a three-course menu at 40 euros; dinner is a three-round sharing menu at 55 euros. Everything is made in-house. The restaurant adapts to allergies for gluten, meat, fish, shellfish, and lactose. The setting, at 37 rue des Arènes in the heart of Arles, is a space that has earned a Michelin Recommended distinction — a recognition that speaks to the consistent quality and ambition of the ever-changing kitchen.
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History
The secret to eternal youth? Arles’ relentless sunshine, a patio with a mascaron fountain, and the creative fervor of Julia Mitton, Laura Vidal and Harry Cummins, the trio who also run La Mercerie, Livingston and Pétrin Couchette in Marseille… And they’ve done such a good job at maintaining that youth that as the years have gone by, the concept behind Chardon (hosting chefs in residency who are just getting started or already in their prime) hasn’t aged a bit. The last time we went, after Lina Caschetto, Tamir Nahmias, Valentin Raffali, Zuri Camille de Souza, Daniel Morgan and Numa Muller completed their residencies (to name just a few), it was time for the New York chef Preston Miller (ex-Gallifet in Aix) to take over the kitchens and celebrate springtime with a stunning lunch menu: zucchini blossom stuffed with silky pink dentex brandade, brushed with a flamboyant saffron glaze; brilliant Mediterranean amberjack prepared tataki-style, and grazed on the BBQ before being glazed with an incredible reduction made from the same fish, with green tomato and Noa cucumber salsa, plus nasturtiums and ga(lactic) raw Bresse cream; before a dessert stitched together by Lisa L’hostis (who used to work at La Mercerie), combining gariguette strawberries prepared as both sorbet and a sauce, both intensely flavorful, plus crisp yet tender meringue, silky dulce de leche and fresh mint. A true work of art! // Marcellin Caillou
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