The microcosm of French haute pastry was shocked to discover that one of its most prominent faces, Aleksandre Oliver, was leaving his post as pastry chef at the emblematic Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz. This departure comes at the top of a journey punctuated with distinctions and rave reviews. And it clearly wasn’t all sweet.
On September 5, 2026, the Food Sens site relayed a message published on Instagram and an article from the Sud Ouest Pyrénées Atlantiques edition: the chef announced his departure and confided that he felt like leaving his position, after several months of particularly heavy pressure. A word that contrasts with the brilliant image of the palace and gives a rare insight into the behind the scenes.
A shock departure for Aleksandre Oliver at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz
The only palace on the Atlantic coast, the Hôtel du Palais reopened in 2021 after extensive work, banking on a duo of young talents to embody its table: chef Aurélien Largeau and Aleksandre Oliver on the sweet side. At the gastronomic La Rotonde, critics praise top-flight cuisine, with Gault et Millau awarding 14 out of 20 and the “Table de Chef” mention, while the Michelin Guide distinguishes the house by the selection in 2019 then 2022.
In this context of claimed excellence, Aleksandre Oliver’s mission was not limited to the desserts of the gourmet restaurant alone. He managed the sweet offering of the entire establishment, for a very demanding international clientele. On September 5, 2026, according to Sud Ouest and Food Sens, he made the end of his position official on Instagram and explained how he felt about leaving after several months of particularly heavy pressure. The exact terms of this departure are not publicly detailed.
A multi-awarded pastry chef under great pressure
Great-grandson of the famous chef Raymond Oliver, the chef trained in the family restaurant before joining prestigious houses, such as Au Bord du Lac at Yoann Conte, then the InterContinental Bordeaux Le Grand Hôtel and the Pressoir d’Argent Gordon Ramsay. In 2018, his career took off: he was crowned “Pastry Chef of the Year” by the magazine and “Best Young Pastry Chef 2018” by the Gault et Millau guide, before recognition from Michelin with the selection for La Rotonde.
In Biarritz, press portraits describe a pastry brigade of around seventeen people, capable of working on up to eleven different desserts simultaneously, between gourmet menus, tea rooms, banquets and room service. The menu is constantly evolving, with very technical creations mixing, for example, fig, verjuice, pelargonium, red corn or local algae. Aleksandre Oliver spends long days, but also his nights, thinking about new agreements and adjustments, to the point of sometimes sending nocturnal messages to his team to refine a detail. An intensity which concretely illustrates what pressure can mean in a palace.
What Aleksandre Oliver’s departure says about palace kitchens
By choosing the word to describe his feeling at the moment of leaving, the chef highlights a paradox common in very high-level houses: there is no shortage of passion, neither are the means, but the race for permanent excellence weighs on time, body and mind. Between the busy summer season in Biarritz, the expectations of guides like Michelin or Gault et Millau, social networks and customers accustomed to exceptional experiences, each service becomes an exam.
Neither Sud Ouest nor Food Sens report specific accusations, nor any open conflict between the chef and his management. The detailed reasons for this departure therefore remain in the private domain. There remains a strong signal for the industry: even a pastry chef with an impressive track record, with desserts considered benchmarks, can choose to leave a palace when he considers that the pressure is no longer sustainable. The rest of Aleksandre Oliver’s career has not yet been announced, but his name now remains associated as much with success as with this assumed distance from a position among the most coveted in French gastronomy.
Why is Aleksandre Oliver leaving the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz?
According to an article in Sud Ouest relayed by Food Sens, the chef announced his departure, explaining how he felt about leaving his position after several months of great pressure. The precise motivations have not been made public.
What awards has pastry chef Aleksandre Oliver received?
In 2018, he was elected “Pastry Chef of the Year” by the magazine and “Best Young Pastry Chef 2018” by Gault et Millau. La Rotonde also obtained the Michelin selection in 2019 and 2022.
What was Aleksandre Oliver’s role at the Hôtel du Palais?
He was pastry chef at the Hôtel du Palais and supervised the entire sweet offering, from the gourmet restaurant La Rotonde to the other catering outlets, at the head of a brigade of around seventeen people.
