Benoît Violier

Benoît Violier (French pronunciation: [bənwa vjɔlje]; 22 August 1971 – 31 January 2016) was a French-Swiss chef .

Benoît Violier
Born	(1971-08-22)August 22, 1971 Saintes, Charente-Maritime, France
Died	January 31, 2016(2016-01-31) (aged 44) Crissier, Switzerland
Cause of death	Suicide
Occupation	chef
Spouse	Brigitte Violier
Children	1

Violier owned the three Michelin star Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in a suburb of Lausanne, Switzerland from 2012 to his death.^[1] The establishment topped the first La Liste in December 2015.^[2]

Biography

Born in Saintes, Charente-Maritime, France,^[3] he went to Paris in 1991 to study with Joël Robuchon, Benoît Guichard and others.^[4] Violier moved to Switzerland in 1996 to work with Philippe Rochat.^[5] Upon Rochat's retirement in 2012, Violier began running the restaurant.^[6] He applied for Swiss citizenship in 2014.^[7] He specialised in cooking game.^[4]

Death

Violier died at home in Crissier, Switzerland, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on 31 January 2016, aged 44.^[4][8] Violier's suicide prompted shock and confusion, as Violier's restaurant Le Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville had been crowned by the French government as the best restaurant in the world only a month before, leading the media to hail Violier as "the world's best chef." It also drew attention to the high-pressure world of haute cuisine.^[9]

Swiss media subsequently reported that Violier may have been a victim of a fraud in which individual bottles of wine were sold several times; however, the management of his restaurant denied that Violier had any connection with the fraud.^[10]

Food gallery

• 
  Composition verte
• 
  Composition maritime (homard et rouget)
• 
  Symphonie papillaire
• 
  Sonate printanière
• 
  Asperges sauvageonnes sur émulsion
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  Structure en équilibre
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  Éclat de joies
• 
  Bouquet d'amour