David Martin

The Path

Training under Alain Passard placed David Martin inside a kitchen where precision and discipline are not decorative values but working method. That apprenticeship helps explain the steadiness in his cooking: the exacting eye, the restraint, the sense that structure comes first. As chef and chef-owner of La Paix, he carries both the line work and the standards of the room, and those responsibilities shape the restaurant as much as the menu.

The Work Today

At La Paix, the role of chef and the role of chef-owner operate as one practice. Martin cooks course by course while also setting the terms of the house, so the plate and the place move together. The result is a restaurant where the kitchen’s rhythm and the room’s identity are part of the same system. The food is often described through tension that does not break: warm but without showing off, generous but refined, subtle but powerful, sometimes brutal. That edge matters. It keeps the cooking from flattening into softness. The Japanese influence gives the work another line of movement, opening it beyond Basque memory and French formation without erasing either. Martin has said that the trip to Japan changed the menu itself, and his own words mark the shift clearly: "Three years ago, when we had our first trip to Japan, we started a whole new menu." The point is not decoration; it is a structural turn in how the restaurant cooks.

Signature

David's signature dishes include 100% Pork. The name reflects the directness of the kitchen: focused, specific, and unsentimental, with generosity still built into the intent.

In Their Words “When we started 10 years ago, we had five starters on the a la carte menu, all based on Basque heritage pork dishes.” “Three years ago, when we had our first trip to Japan, we started a whole new menu.”

Acclaim

David's honors include MICHELIN Guide two stars, Gault & Millau Chef de l'Année (2019), and First Cook of Belgium (1998).