Bruno Verjus chose Instagram to announce the end of Table. In a video posted in early September, the chef of this two-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris’s 12th arrondissement, a regular in the top 10 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (3rd in 2024), set the permanent closing date for December 22, 2026, after thirteen years on Rue de Prague.
One line was enough to send the story around the food press: “fine dining is dead.” The chef says he no longer recognizes himself in a cuisine that its prices and codes reserve for a handful of diners. He wants to turn that page and launch a new concept, called “fast dining,” though he hasn’t detailed yet what it will actually be.
The statement didn’t stop at his own restaurant. Verjus also called the World’s 50 Best ranking “totally discredited,” raising suspicions of manipulation in how spots get awarded. The organization behind the list responded publicly, defending its voting process and pushing back on the chef’s account. A few days later, French trade press was already describing a more measured Verjus, walking back part of his comments without dropping the substance.
Whether or not Verjus is right about the ranking, his decision touches a sore spot: high-end dining keeps getting more expensive to run, for a shrinking pool of customers willing to pay for it. Few chefs at that level of the world rankings say so this bluntly, let alone by closing their own restaurant to prove it.
Until December, Table keeps serving its regulars on Rue de Prague. What comes next will carry the name “fast dining.” Nobody yet knows what that restaurant will actually look like.