The story
Chardon, at 37 rue des Arènes in Arles, is a bistro where a new chef takes over the kitchen for a season at a time, and Le Fooding listed it in 2026. The restaurant has hosted chefs in residence since 2016, each stay lasting between two and eight months.
Each residency sets its own direction, drawing on the terroir and season between the Camargue and the Garrigue. During the spring visit reviewed by Le Fooding, New York chef Preston Miller cooked a lunch built around a zucchini blossom stuffed with dentex brandade. Amberjack came tataki-style, glazed with a reduction made from the same fish.
Zuri Camille de Souza, a Goa-born chef and author now based in Marseille, leads the April and May residency. Her cooking draws on south-west Indian and coastal traditions. Clément Garbez, originally from Nevers, follows from June to August with vegetable-forward plates built on acidity, umami and fermentation. Félix Roy and Léo Côté, two chefs from Québec, close the year in September and October.
There is no choice to make, since each residency writes its own set menu. The lunch is 40 euros and the evening menu is 55 euros per person, served as three rounds to share. The kitchen adapts dishes for gluten, meat, fish, shellfish and lactose, and other requests are best raised by email before booking.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
The secret to eternal youth? Arles’ relentless sunshine, a patio with a mascaron fountain, and the creative fervor of Julia Mitton, Laura Vidal and Harry Cummins, the trio who also run La Mercerie, Livingston and Pétrin Couchette in Marseille… And they’ve done such a good job at maintaining that youth that as the years have gone by, the concept behind Chardon (hosting chefs in residency who are just getting started or already in their prime) hasn’t aged a bit. The last time we went, after Lina Caschetto, Tamir Nahmias, Valentin Raffali, Zuri Camille de Souza, Daniel Morgan and Numa Muller completed their residencies (to name just a few), it was time for the New York chef Preston Miller (ex-Gallifet in Aix) to take over the kitchens and celebrate springtime with a stunning lunch menu: zucchini blossom stuffed with silky pink dentex brandade, brushed with a flamboyant saffron glaze; brilliant Mediterranean amberjack prepared tataki-style, and grazed on the BBQ before being glazed with an incredible reduction made from the same fish, with green tomato and Noa cucumber salsa, plus nasturtiums and ga(lactic) raw Bresse cream; before a dessert stitched together by Lisa L’hostis (who used to work at La Mercerie), combining gariguette strawberries prepared as both sorbet and a sauce, both intensely flavorful, plus crisp yet tender meringue, silky dulce de leche and fresh mint. A true work of art! // Marcellin Caillou
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