Recipe for success: the ingredients that made Le Gavroche one of the world’s favourite restaurants

On 13 January 2024, Michel Roux served his final meal at Le Gavroche, in London’s Mayfair. ‘People with deep pockets, big appetites and a taste for the old things done very well, will mourn,’ lamented the critic Jay Rayner of the iconic restaurant’s closure.

Almost 60 years had passed since the chef’s father and uncle, Albert and Michel Roux, had opened Le Gavroche, initiating a gastronomic revolution in a city largely considered a culinary wasteland at the time.

Originally located in Chelsea, the restaurant was frequented by the likes of Ava Gardner, Robert Redford and Charlie Chaplin. The latter reportedly enjoyed the legendary soufflé Suissesse — described by one critic as the restaurant world’s Mona Lisa — so much that he returned every night for a week. In 1981 the restaurant moved to Upper Brook Street, near Hyde Park. A decade later, Albert and Michel passed the reins to the younger Michel.

Le Gavroche became a London institution, internationally recognised for its culinary excellence and unparalleled attention to detail. It was the first restaurant in Britain to be awarded one (1974), then two (1977), then three (1982) Michelin stars. Many of those who worked there went on to become ‘starred’ chefs themselves, among them Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing and Pierre Koffmann. Under Roux’s stewardship, Le Gavroche featured regularly in Restaurant magazine’s global top 50 list until, in August 2023, he announced that the restaurant would be closing.

Now, in April 2024, Christie’s is hosting two online auctions offering some of the most cherished contents of Le Gavroche — Part I: The Restaurant and Part II: The Wine Cellar. Both are open for bidding from 10 to 24 April and will go online for browsing on 3 April.

Part I features silver cloches, a champagne trolley, mahogany cheese trays and dinner services, alongside the restaurant’s historic illuminated sign and guestbooks, which contain autographs from Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Judi Dench, Tom Jones, Diana Ross and more.

There is also a selection of 20th-century art lifted from the olive-and-claret walls, including prints by Miró, Chagall and Dalí, as well as the painting The ‘Le Gavroche’ Boy, purchased by Albert and Michel Roux Sr in Montmartre — a depiction of the fictional street urchin from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables who gave the restaurant its name back in 1967.

Part II features more than 7,000 bottles of wine from Le Gavroche’s legendary cellar. Split between eight vaults hidden away under the pavement of Upper Brook Street and the restaurant’s ‘daily cellar’ — which was used to keep the finest stock and special requests close to hand — the inventory at one point swelled to around 100,000 bottles, making it one of the largest collections of wine in the UK.

According to Tim Triptree MW, Christie’s international director of Wine and Spirits, what makes the collection truly outstanding is the expertise and attention to detail with which it has been put together. ‘Six decades have been spent painstakingly curating Le Gavroche’s list of around 2,500 different wines, so that every single one complements specific aspects of the menu in a certain way,’ he explains. ‘That expert knowledge has been passed down from one sommelier to the next.’

The most recent person to bear that weighty responsibility was head sommelier Rémi Cousin, nicknamed ‘The Almighty’. During his tenure, Cousin notably expanded the cellar’s holdings of New World and English sparkling wines, as well as exclusive vintages and formats, which were often sourced via privileged access to top-tier vineyards thanks to relationships that dated back to the restaurant’s founding.

Cousin also increased the number of bottles priced above £10,000. A career highlight was the moment when one enthusiastic diner ordered his most expensive wine: a bottle of Château d’Yquem from 1849 — a snip at £22,000. In 2022, Le Gavroche was awarded Restaurant Wine List of the Year (Fine Dining) by the International Wine Challenge.

As one might therefore expect, the sale features many outstanding wines. ‘There are some great Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru vintages including 2013 and 2011, alongside amazing Salon Le Mesnil champagne from 2006, 2002 and 1999,’ notes Triptree. ‘There are also excellent vintages of Krug, including rare magnums of 1976, 1975 and 1971, and Krug Collection 1969, which are very sought after.’

The specialist also points to several spectacular wines from Bordeaux. ‘We have many first growths, like Château Latour dating back to 1948, multiple vintages of Petrus, and various vintages of Le Pin, which is one of the most expensive Bordeaux wines in the world right now,’ he says. ‘A lot of these wines are so highly regarded you don’t even need to taste them to know they are necessary for any discerning collection.’

As for provenance, it doesn’t get much better than this. ‘You have the desirable fact that these bottles have barely moved, aside from their journey from vineyard to Mayfair,’ says Triptree. ‘But then they’re also a piece of the legacy of one of the most revered restaurants in the world. Really, what more could anyone ask for?’

The Le Gavroche collection will be offered in two online auctions from 10 to 24 April 2024, with browsing open from 3 April. Le Gavroche Part I: The Restaurant features works of art including pictures, drawings, prints and decorative objects that adorned the bar and restaurant, as well as tableware used by its patrons. Le Gavroche Part II: The Wine Cellar showcases a selection of exceptional bottles from its world-class wine cellar