A visionary chef, Romain Meder creates a free, elemental gastronomy inspired by plants and his rural roots.
A child of the land and the farm, he first imagined himself as a farmer or even a quail breeder, inspired by the pure and nourishing landscape of Neurey-lès-La-Demie in the countryside of Haute-Saône. Ultimately, he chose to express this deep love of nature through cooking, beginning his apprenticeship in the region with the memory of his grandfather — a cook himself — guiding him.
Driven by a passion for travel, he spent a year working in Martinique, discovering new flavours and culinary cultures. Back in France, he joined the prestigious catering house Potel & Chabot, where he carried out missions around the world. He later refined his skills in French haute cuisine during two years in the kitchens of Hélène Darroze in Paris.
In 2006, Alain Ducasse noticed him and brought him to the Plaza Athénée restaurant, where he joined as sous-chef. Sensing his attraction to global cuisines, Alain Ducasse entrusted him in 2008 with Spoon des Îles in Mauritius. Three years later, as Alain Ducasse prepared the opening of IDAM in Doha, Romain Meder proved the ideal candidate to invent the contemporary Middle Eastern haute cuisine that would be served there.
In early 2014, a new challenge emerged. The restaurant at the Plaza Athénée was set to reopen in autumn, and Alain Ducasse wanted to completely reinvent its culinary identity. Once again, he turned to Romain Meder to create the cuisine of Naturalité, which would be awarded three Michelin stars in 2016.
There, he cultivated his creativity, becoming a true culinary “researcher”, exploring new flavours and reshaping the highest spheres of gastronomy with an elemental palace cuisine — stripped of artifice, focused on raw ingredients and their textures, and notably free from meat.
After leading the ephemeral restaurant ADMO alongside Alain Ducasse, Albert Adrià and Jessica Préalpato, he became head chef at Domaine de Primard in Eure-et-Loir in May 2022. There he oversaw the kitchens of the bistro Octave and the gastronomic restaurant Les Chemins, an environment both literally and intellectually nourishing. In this kingdom of nature, vegetables reign supreme — omnipresent, expressive and vibrant. In March 2023, the Michelin Guide awarded Les Chemins both a Michelin star and a Green Star. The restaurant closed in autumn 2024.
In April 2025, Romain Meder opened Prévelle, his first restaurant. A new chapter in the heart of Paris, and the continuation of the culinary adventure he has long pursued alongside his network of trusted producers.
