Le Verbois – three generations behind a Rothschild hunting lodge

In the forest of Halatte, a few kilometres from Chantilly's château and racecourse, Le Verbois occupies a brick hunting lodge built in 1886 for the Rothschild family, who once hunted these woods. The Guibet family took over the property and its stoves in the early 1980s, and the reins have since passed down through the family to Guillaume Guibet, who is following in his father's footsteps. Guillaume joined the business in 2016 after training in Paris under two-starred chef Kei Kobayashi, and his seasonal, well-travelled cooking earned Le Verbois its own star in January 2021. It holds one MICHELIN Star, recognising cooking that is clever and creative, moving with the seasons while borrowing freely from the chef's travels through Asia and Latin America. The result is a country table that feels entirely rooted in the Oise and yet quietly worldly.

01The room and the setting

The lodge's history is still legible in its bones, with the original timber frame extended by a glass veranda and a dining room finished in wood, leather and brushed metal — a décor the MICHELIN Guide describes as having the same dynamism as the cooking itself.

In January 2026 the Guibet family opened rooms and suites on the estate, after nearly a year of building work, extending a meal into a stay. The project had been requested by diners for years, who wanted to prolong the experience of Le Verbois beyond the table, and the family invested heavily to keep the new rooms — each named after a flower from the garden, among them Oxalys and Mélilot, some with private terraces, fountains and bio-ethanol fireplaces — in keeping with the house's existing character.

02The chef

Guillaume Guibet grew up behind the stoves of Le Verbois while his father, Laurent, who had trained at the Negresco in Nice and the Fouquet's in Paris, ran the kitchen. Guillaume trained formally at the hotel school in Le Touquet, then spent three years in Paris working under chef Kei Kobayashi at his two-starred restaurant Kei, an apprenticeship that still surfaces in occasional nods to Asian technique on the Verbois menu.

Insider tip

Closed Mon–Tue and Sun evenings; weekday lunch menu from €60; booking recommended.

He joined the family restaurant in 2016 and took sole charge of the kitchen at twenty-two, as his parents, Laurence and Laurent, moved to run the dining room. Early recognition came quickly — Gault&Millau named him the region's most promising young chef — and the kitchen earned its first MICHELIN star in January 2021.

03The cooking

Guibet keeps part of the family vegetable garden under his own hand and tends nine beehives on the estate, building menus around a network of local producers, fishermen and farmers he has built up over the years. His plates range as readily toward Latin America as the Far East: tuna belly layered delicately with daikon, or morels dressed with poultry jus, a wild garlic risotto and a bacon-flavoured sabayon.

04What to order

Four tasting menus climb in scale: the three-course Menu Itinéraire, served only at weekday lunch, through the five-course Menu découverte and six-course Menu Évasion to the seven-course Menu Prestige, the kitchen's fullest statement. A cheese course drawn from the Hauts-de-France, supplied by the affineur Philippe Olivier, is offered as a supplement. Specialities that have anchored the Verbois table over the years include sea bream, Breton lobster, sweetbreads, Racan pigeon and a millefeuille.

05When to go and booking

The dining room keeps a tight, countryside rhythm: closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, open for lunch Wednesday to Sunday and for dinner Wednesday to Saturday, with no Sunday evening service. Given the small, family-run scale of the operation, a table should be booked ahead, either by telephone or through the restaurant's own website.

06The neighbourhood

Saint-Maximin sits between the Halatte forest and the Oise valley, a few kilometres from both Senlis and Chantilly and under an hour from Paris. The Château de Chantilly, its racecourse, the Prince's kitchen garden and the Dolce Chantilly golf course all lie within a short drive, making the lodge as easy to combine with an afternoon at the château as with a quiet night in the forest.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.