Maison Troisgros

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Family Saga Rooted in French Cuisine

The story of Maison Troisgros begins in 1930, when Jean-Baptiste and Marie Troisgros left Chalon-sur-Saône to take over the Hôtel des Platanes in Roanne, ideally placed opposite the train station. What started as a well-timed venture — the town was a stop on the famous Route Nationale 7, the road of summer holidays — became one of the most enduring family enterprises in the history of French cuisine.

Their sons Jean and Pierre took to the stoves in the early 1950s, driven by a pursuit of simplicity and precision rather than the theatrical flourishes fashionable at the time. A first Michelin star arrived in 1956. Then, in 1963, came one of those happy accidents that define culinary history: the creation of salmon with sorrel, a dish of striking purity that would become one of the founding expressions of Nouvelle Cuisine. By 1968, the house held three Michelin stars.

Michel, Marie-Pierre, and a New Horizon

The third generation brought fresh energy. Michel Troisgros — son of Pierre and Olympe, a Burgundian and an Italian — and his partner Marie-Pierre embarked on years of travel, from New York to Tokyo, London to Berkeley, before returning to Roanne in 1983. Named Chef of the Year by Gault-Millau in 2003 and the author of La Cuisine acidulée, Michel steadily recast the menu in his own image while preserving the house's instinct for bold, clean flavours.

In February 2017, the family made its most decisive move yet: relocating to a vast domain in Ouches, conceived freely with architect Patrick Bouchain. The result is a place that feels genuinely like a world of its own — spacious, rooted, and entirely personal.

Le Bois sans feuilles and the Wider Domain

At the heart of the Ouches estate sits Le Bois sans feuilles, the three-Michelin-star gastronomic table whose very name carries an emotional charge. In 2020, it was among the first restaurants to receive Michelin's Green Star, recognising the family's commitment to sustainable, locally grounded French cuisine. That recognition, alongside appearances in The World's 50 Best Restaurants, reflects a consistency of ambition that spans nearly a century.

The domain extends well beyond a single dining room. Le Bois Dormant, the hotel awarded two Michelin Keys, offers generous rooms where, as the family puts it, "luxury takes the form of a kind of friendship." Next door, Le Pré Cheval — Marion Troisgros's domain — is a working farm with gîtes and equestrian activities, where guests are invited into the warmth of agricultural family life. Back in Roanne, Le Central, now thirty years old, functions as both restaurant and épicerie, offering what the Troisgros describe as cuisine ménagère — inventive, honest, everyday cooking.

What Four Generations Looks Like

Michel Troisgros has said: "Here we have the concern for the past in order to serve the present." It is as good a summary as any of what makes this house singular. The current generation — Michel, Marie-Pierre, César, and Marion — has built something that resists easy categorisation: part farm, part hotel, part three-star French cuisine destination, and above all a family home that happens to be one of the most recognised tables in the world.