ABOUT US
For 70 years, Les Grandes Tables du Monde has represented and promoted the world’s best restaurants. Those that provide the best welcome, those that delight their diners, and those that deliver unforgettable experiences.
The restaurant is synonymous with absolute generosity in body and soul, unlimited happiness and memories galore. The formula may seem simple. As if the recipe were within hand’s reach. And it seems that with its apparently insatiable appetite for restaurants, chefs, produce, wines and recipes, the entire world has borrowed that passion from us. But we have been driven by that passion ever since the association was formed in 1954. Our members live and breathe for this shared and emotional principle of creating your happiness.
Les Grandes Tables du Monde now unites 192 restaurants in 23 countries around a core set of shared values and stringent admission criteria that reflect our exclusivity:
- to offer you uncompromising excellence in terms of cuisine
- to invite you to experience the generosity of our members and their exceptional sense of hospitality
- to offer you unique dining environments, many of which are in iconic destinations with a prestigious past
WHAT WE DO
Over the years, we have carefully, attentively and commandingly built a highly rated and exclusive selection of the world’s very best restaurants.
In a world now at an advanced stage of digitisation, we are more committed than ever to working on a daily basis to defend and promote a lifestyle that still, and always will, retain an essential place in human existence.
Because across the full spectrum of our specialist skills, nothing can ever replace the essential role fulfilled by our employees.
And because the legacy of the experience provided by the world’s greatest restaurants is essential to our increasingly accelerated lives.
DAVID SINAPIAN
President – PIC, France
From Shanghai to Paris, from New York to Singapore, our restaurants are united by a strong desire to offer our guests unique and memorable moments. Behind this way of life, you will find women and men fully dedicated and committed to a lifelong quest for excellence. Cooks and pastry chefs, sommeliers or maître d’s, we are all united by a strong will to meet and often exceed our guests expectations.
Respecting the values of its founders, the association Les Grandes Tables du Monde brings together the very best restaurateurs and the very best guests in the world !
See you soon in one of our restaurants.
« Tradition is perpetual progress.
It advances, changes, lives.
The living tradition exists everywhere.
Do your best to maintain it in the ways of our area. »
Jean Cocteau
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DAVID SINAPIAN
David Sinapian has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2005, and its Chairman since 2015.
Born on 11 April 1970, he is a graduate of the Institut Supérieur de Gestion management school in Paris.
He is Chairman of the Pic Group, which owns Pic in Valence, and many other restaurants. He is has also chaired Valence en Gastronomie (a non-profit organisation promoting the city’s hospitality, wine, food and associated heritage sectors) since 2015.
Pic has been honoured with three stars in the Michelin guide since 2007.
ANTONIO SANTINI
Vice-Chairman
Antonio Santini has been a director of Les Grandes Tables Du Monde depuis 2000.
Born on 19 April 1953, he is a Political Sciences graduate of the University of Milan.
Together with his wife, the Chef Nadia Santini, he runs the family restaurant Dal Pescatore in Canneto Sul Oglio, which was awarded three stars in the 1996 Michelin guide.
He is Vice-Chairman of the Italian culinary association Le Soste, which he founded jointly with Gualtiero Marchesi in 1982.
SANG HOON DEGEIMBRE
Vice-Chairman
Sang Hoon Degeimbre has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2019.
SYLVIE BUHAGIAR
Sylvie Buhagiar has been the Chief Administrative Officer of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2010.
Born on 20 July 1960, she has been a barrister at the Geneva bar since 2000, and has run her own legal practice in Geneva (Switzerland) since 2002. She holds a Master of Law (LLM) degree from Columbia Law School in New York.
She is a director of Restaurant Lasserre and the Suisse Romande Orchestra Foundation, the Geneva Music School Foundation, the Musée de l’Elysée Foundation in Lausanne, and the Geneva City of Music Festival.
Also Chair of the Haefeli Foundation, she is a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite.
NICOLAS BROSSARD
Nicolas Brossard has been a member of the Board of Directors of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2023.
The owner and manager of Restaurant Christopher Coutanceau in La Rochelle, Nicolas Brossard began his career in the industry as a sommelier under Chef Alain Senderens at restaurant Lucas Carton. He then worked as head sommelier at the Réserve de Beaulieu and Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV before meeting the Coutanceau family in 2003.
He moved to La Rochelle to become their restaurant manager and head sommelier before joining forces with Christopher Coutanceau in 2007 to buy the restaurant from its founder Richard Coutanceau.
Restaurant Christopher Coutanceau has been a member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2013 and received three Michelin stars in 2020.
MARC HAEBERLIN
Marc Haeberlin has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde from 2001 to 2014.
Born on 28 November 1954, he was Chairman of Les Grandes Tables du Monde between 2001 and 2015.
Having trained with Paul Bocuse, Lasserre in Paris and La Maison Troisgros in Roanne, he is now the Chef Proprietor of L’Auberge de L’Ill in Illhaeusern, having succeeded his father Paul.
L’Auberge de l’Ill has held three Michelin stars since 1967.
He is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite and a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
JULIEN ROYER
Julien Royer has been a member of the Board of Directors of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2023.
Originally from Auvergne, Julien Royer began his career alongside Michel Bras in Laguiole.
He moved to Singapore in 2008, where he worked as head chef in various hotels before founding Odette in 2015 in the National Gallery Singapore.
Since then, the chef has had a meteoric rise that propelled the restaurant to the top of the world’s lists, praised for its excellence and outstanding mastery.
Odette has been a member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2017 and received three Michelin stars in 2019.
HEINER FINKBEINER
Heiner Finkbeiner has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2002.
He was born on 2 January 1949.
In 1993, he took over management of five star superior hotel Traube Tonbach in Baiersbronn, which has been owned by his family for more than 230 years.
Its restaurant Schwarzwaldstube helds three Michelin stars for three decades.
He is a member of the Club des Cents, an Officier des Côteaux de Champagne and a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France).
MARYSE TRAMA
Maryse Trama has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2000.
Born on 11 November 1945, she was trained in childcare before acquiring her first restaurant in the Rue Mouffetard, Paris with husband Michel in 1974.
They then moved on to Puymirol in 1978, and were awarded three stars in the 2003 Michelin guide.
HÉLÈNE CLÉMENT
Associate Director, France
Hélène Clément has been a director of Les Grandes Tables du Monde since 2019.
She studied at Institut d’études politiques de Bordeaux, holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Sorbonne in Paris (2008), a Master’s degree from Bordeaux Management School (2010) and a Diploma from the Faculté d’Œnologie de Bordeaux (Bordeaux University of Oenology) (2010). Hélène Clément worked in a Parisian agency focusing on digital communication in gastronomy, wines and spirits before launching her own Palais Royal Agency, a communication and reputation consulting agency for chefs that works with companies and leading figures such as Maison Troisgros, Pierre Gagnaire, Jean Sulpice, Les Grandes Tables du Monde, Caffé Stern, Bocuse d’Or & The World Pastry Cup, Domaine de Chevalier, Château La Dominique…
Since 2017, she’s back working at Grand Hotel du Lion d’Or where she is learning to run a family business. And she also launched a podcast: “Une Cuillère en Argent, le Podcast qui relève le défi !” (A Silver Spoon, the Podcast that is up to the challenge!) on transmitting know-how, heritage and companies.
ANDRÉ TERRAIL
Associate Director, France
André Terrail, 39 years old and third to bear the name, succeeded his father at the helm of the Tour d’Argent in 2006.
Holding a Bachelor Degree of Science in Business Administration from Babson College and a Master’s Degree of Business Administration from INSEAD, he now runs an independent family business with more than 120 employees and €12 million in turnover.
Heir to a genuine landmark of French gastronomy, he strives to anchor the Tour d’Argent in its time by upholding the values of elegance and excellence that make it one of the world’s greatest restaurants.
In 2019, he entrusted the kitchen to Yannick Franques, winner of the Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France award in 2004, with the mission to reinterpret our culinary heritage.
The wine cellar and sommellerie are supervised by Head Sommelier Julien Touitou. His mission is to perpetuate the exceptional know-how behind wine aging and develop the dining-room service to devise ever more spectacular experiences.
André Terrail was awarded the Grand Prix du Rayonnement Touristique Français in 2015 and the Prix “Patrimoine” des Lumières de Paris in 2018. He is board member of CFA Médéric and GNI Île-de-France.
ARCHIVES
À L’ORIGINE, DE GRANDS RESTAURATEURS…
1954
The association “Traditions
et Qualité” was founded by the restaurateurs of six Parisian institutions:
Jean Barnagaud (Prunier), André Vrinat (Taillevent),
René Lasserre (Lasserre),
Claude Terrail (La Tour d’Argent), Raymond Oliver (Le Grand Véfour) and Louis Vaudable (Maxim’s).1956
Raymond Thuillier from l’Oustau de Baumanière became the first regional member.
In the same year, a first guide intended for the general public grouped together practical information about the 19 associated firms (nine in Paris and its surrounding area,
ten in the provinces).1959
At Le Grand Véfour, on his table’s tablecloth, Jean Cocteau drew the blue white and red cockerel that became the association’s logo.
1960
A second edition of the Traditions et Qualité directory was published. It wasn’t until 1974 that the next one appeared. The display of this cockerel as a sign of recognition of the quality restaurants, each member made Cocteau’s words their own: “Tradition is a perpetual motion. It advances, it changes, it lives. You can come across living tradition everywhere. Try to maintain it in the style of your time.”
1974
Jean-Pierre Haeberlin, owner of the Auberge de l’Ill with his brother Paul was elected for the first of his five terms as president.
1990
The association was renamed “Les Grandes Tables du Monde” (literally luxury restaurants of the world).
1996
Jean-Claude Vrinat du Taillevent was elected president. Like
every year since the association began, you can read the credo
on the annual congress’s menu: “Protect and promote, in France and around the World, our notion of a new art of living”.2001
It was the turn of Marc Haeberlin, son of Paul, from the Auberge de l’Ill, to become president of Les Grandes Tables du Monde.
2014
For the association’s 60th anniversary, the annual congress took place in Bristol. It was the chance to pay tribute to Jean- Pierre Haeberlin, who died this year. David Sinapian from the Maison Pic was elected president for a 5 year term.
2018
In 15 regions in France,
13 European countries, 12 countries in the other 4 continents:
174 exceptional restaurants carry on a “new art of living”.
« Nothing is more serious than pleasure. »
Claude Terrail
Le coq de Jean Cocteau
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