Few chefs show such a strong culinary personality as Alexandre Gauthier in La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil (near the northern tip of France). The story unfolds in a space with two tiered metal rooftops (designed by architect Patrick Bouchain) and views onto the verdant surroundings and the kitchens. This is the laboratory in which the chef cooks up "contemporary cuisine with French roots, liberated from its certainties and preconceptions". Like an alchemist, he teases out flavours in on-point dishes, each a vignette of creativity in which the ingredients sing the praises of the seasons. Artistic and experimental cuisine, to be savoured in this old Picardy farmhouse imbued with a luxury that remains close to nature.