Romain Fornell

The Climb

Hotel-school training establishes habits before style. At Lycée des Métiers d’Hôtellerie et du Tourisme, Romain Fornell received the kind of foundation that shows up later in service: repetition, discipline, and the ability to build flavor with exactitude. That base carried into La Chaldette in Lozère, France, where he served as chef and earned a Michelin star in 2001. The recognition marked a kitchen already working with restraint and distinction. A chef/operator role tests more than cooking. At Diana restaurant, El Palace Hotel, Barcelona, Spain, from 2002–2004, Romain Fornell worked across the stove and the room’s broader mechanics: pace, atmosphere, and the connection between kitchen and service. The Barcelona setting brought French precision into a more urban Mediterranean dining rhythm, where polish has to move cleanly through the room. Long tenure sharpens a point of view. As chef/operator of Caelis since 2004 and head of Goût Rouge, Romain Fornell has continued to carry French culinary grammar into Barcelona’s contemporary restaurant field. The through line is clarity: texture, composition, and plates built to hold together without excess.

Today

Caelis in Barcelona, Spain, is the current center of the work. As Owner and Chef, Romain Fornell’s role joins cooking, operation, and stewardship of the dining experience. The restaurant is where the French-trained structure and Barcelona-facing service language continue to meet in present tense. Bistro vocabulary changes register without dropping technique. At Le Grand Café Rouge, popular dishes include Avocado and Bistro-Style Shrimp; Mimosa Leeks with Hollandaise Sauce; Shallot Cream cooked in the Josper oven; Scallop Tartare with Truffle; Tuna Carpaccio with caper vinaigrette and grated egg; and Sea Bream Carpaccio with caviar and plankton mayonnais. The list moves between cold precision, classical sauces, oven heat, salinity, acidity, and richness, handled in a polished but familiar idiom. The common method is composition rather than display. Ingredients are kept legible, familiar formats are given clean structure, and balance does most of the work. The result is a dining language that uses bistro pleasure and fine-dining control without forcing either one to explain the other.

Signature

Romain's signature dishes include Avocado and Bistro-Style Shrimp, Mimosa Leeks with Hollandaise Sauce, Shallot Cream cooked in the Josper oven, Scallop Tartare with Truffle, and Tuna Carpaccio with caper vinaigrette and grated egg. The signature set works between bistro comfort and exact plate-building. Cream, acidity, raw preparations, egg, truffle, shrimp, tuna, leeks, and Josper heat all point to a cook’s concern with contrast: soft against bright, rich against clean, familiar against precise. The craft position is direct—season clearly, build texture, and let the plate carry its own structure.

In Their Words “The recognition of a job well done was an encouragement to keep my eyes open and become ready to face new challenges.” Recognition functions here as a working signal, not a finish line. In Romain Fornell’s formulation, a prize or star confirms the job done and then sends the cook back to attention: the next room, the next service, the next plate.

Recognition

Romain Fornell has received Best Young Chef of Midi-Pyrénées. Romain's honors include Michelin star at La Chaldette (2001), Prix Pyrénées (2026), and Premio a la Iniciativa en Restauración (2026).