The soul of the 3ème Cercle · The chef

Yannick Leclerc. 35 years in the kitchen,and still the same drive: passing it on

Founder and head chef of the 3ème Cercle, he has spent his life in the finest houses — first learning, then training others. Today, he does what he loves most: sharing his experience and his passion.

Dine at his table Watch the Le Point interview ↓

Yannick Leclerc, founder and head chef of the 3ème Cercle, Paris 11

The chef

The man before the CV

A chef who loves, above all, to host

Ask Yannick what he loves best and he won't tell you about a recipe. He'll tell you about the moment a table bursts out laughing, when colleagues who used to avoid each other pass a dish around, when someone tastes what they have just made with their own hands and can hardly believe it.

That is his craft. Cooking is only the means. What he is after is the connection — the one that forms when people make something together, for real. So he hosts. The way you host at home: with high standards and no fuss, attentive to everyone, ready to get his hands in the flour right beside you.

The journey · 35 years learning, then passing it on

From the great houses to teaching

Yannick learned his craft where there is no room for error: the greatest Parisian houses — Le Taillevent, Lucas Carton, the Saint James, La Maison Blanche. That is where he learned rigour, true taste, the precise gesture. Thirty-five years of cooking, from the heat of the brigades to the finest tables.

Then he chose to pass it on: he became a trainer of the chefs of the École Ducasse, one of the world's leading references in culinary education. Training those who train, teaching chefs to become chefs: that is where he found his true calling.

The 3ème Cercle was born of that. Of a man who can cook at the very highest level, and who loves, above all else, to share it.

The great houses
Le Taillevent, Lucas Carton, Saint James, La Maison Blanche: the rigour of the finest Parisian tables.
Trainer of the chefs of the École Ducasse
Teaching chefs to become chefs, at one of the world's leading references in culinary education.
Founder of the 3ème Cercle
His own place: an art gallery and a professional kitchen, to pass it on and to host.

His way of doing things

He doesn't cook for you. He cooks with you.

That makes all the difference. In a restaurant, the chef stays backstage. At the 3ème Cercle, Yannick is right beside you: he shows you the gesture, corrects your hand, explains the why, and lets you do it. In the end, what you eat is something you created yourself.

It's the trainer's reflex: not doing it for you, but making you capable. Complete beginner or weekend cook, he puts you at ease: it's an evening, not an exam. And when he finally sits down with you, between two courses, he tells stories — behind the scenes of the great houses, tales of the trade, gestures of old. It is often what people remember most.

The brigade · Who leads what? We tell you straight

Yannick can't be everywhere. And that's only natural.

Around him, a brigade of real chefs — not a team of stand-ins: a team he has shaped, to his rigour, his taste, his way of hosting. Chefs, sommelier, bartender, maître d'hôtel: the standard is the same, whether it is Yannick or one of his own leading the way.

Team building · seminar · reception

Yannick or his brigade

Your events are led by Yannick or a chef from his brigade, depending on dates and format. Either way, you have a real chef by your side: the same level of attention, the same care.

The private exception

The Dinner is Yannick in person

The Dinner with the chef, however, is Yannick — all evening, without exception. It is our only fully private experience, and the only one where the chef himself is guaranteed.

As seen in Le Point

The 3ème Cercle, told by its chef

Yannick was interviewed by Michel Denisot for Le Point, around one idea: how art and cooking are reinventing the way we come together. A few minutes to understand the man, the place, and what you experience there. (Interview in French.)