Three-Michelin-star Paris restaurant Arpege switches to plant-based dishes

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Helmed by chef Alain Passard, Arpege is the first restaurant with three Michelin stars in France to move to plant-based food

PARIS, France – French chef Alain Passard, known for his mastery of roasting techniques, has decided to drop almost all animal products from the menu at his three-Michelin-star restaurant, Arpege.

The decision follows his earlier move to eliminate red meat from Arpege’s dishes in the early 2000s. Passard’s updated menu excludes meat, fish, and dairy, although honey sourced from the restaurant’s own beehives will remain an exception.

View of tables and the decor at Arpege, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant of French chef Alain Passard, which serves an exclusively plant-based menu, in Paris, France, July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Passard said he was motivated by his passion for nature, adding that using seasonal vegetables would also reduce the restaurant’s environmental impact.

French chef Alain Passard, surrounded by his team of cooks, receives crates of vegetables from his gardens before preparing exclusively plant-based dishes at his three-Michelin-starred restaurant Arpege in Paris, France, July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Passard, 68, rose to fame for his roasted dishes, including “poulet au foin”, or chicken cooked in hay, but has since become a leader in Paris’s growing vegetable-based dining scene.

“Everything I was able to do with the animal will remain a wonderful memory,” Passard told Reuters.

“Today, I’m moving more towards a cuisine of emotion, a cuisine that I could describe as artistic. It’s closer to painting and sewing… Today I’m a different chef.”

Chef gardener Sylvain Picard picks up Japanese eggplants in the vegetable garden of French chef Alain Passard, owner of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Arpege, which serves an exclusively plant-based menu, in Fille-sur-Sarthe, France, July 24, 2025. REUTERS/Noemie Olive

Arpege is the first restaurant with three Michelin stars in France to move to plant-based food, joining the ranks of Eleven Madison Park in New York, which made a similar transition under chef Daniel Humm.

A cook prepares exclusively plant-based dishes in the kitchen of Arpege, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant of French chef Alain Passard, in Paris, France, July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

On the menu is a “mosaic” of tomatoes, flamed aubergine with melon confit, and a dish made up of carrot, onion, shallot and cabbage. The priciest set menu costs 420 euros ($493) and lunch costs 260 euros.

Some countries have seen consumers turn away from meat in recent years. At the Paris Olympics last year, organizers set out to cut the amount of meat served to athletes and spectators. – Rappler.com