Restaurant in Augerolles, France
Michelin-recognised, rural, genuinely affordable.

Les Chênes holds a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 and scores 4.8 from 385 Google reviews — strong signals for a €€ traditional French restaurant in a small Auvergne village. It's the right choice for a weekend lunch stop in the Livradois-Forez area if you want recognised quality without destination-level pricing. Book ahead; walk-ins at a rural venue this size carry real risk.
Les Chênes is not the kind of place you stumble across while touring the Auvergne's bigger-name destinations. The misconception worth correcting upfront: this is not a casual roadside stop. Two consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions (2024 and 2025) signal a kitchen that takes traditional French cuisine seriously, and a 4.8 Google rating across 385 reviews confirms that local and visiting diners agree. At the €€ price point, Les Chênes delivers Michelin-acknowledged quality without the three-figure-per-head commitment you'd face at the region's more celebrated addresses. If you're planning a trip through the Puy-de-Dôme and want a considered meal rather than a convenience stop, this belongs on your itinerary.
Augerolles is a village in the Livradois-Forez natural park, a part of the Auvergne that sees far less tourist traffic than Clermont-Ferrand or the Chaîne des Puys. Les Chênes sits on the Route de Courpière at the village's edge, and the address tells you something about the experience: this is a destination in the countryside sense, not an urban dining room. The physical setting matters here because it shapes the format. You're not arriving for a quick lunch squeezed into a busy city schedule. The room, by all available signal, is the kind of traditional French dining space where the layout encourages a longer pace — tablecloths, considered seating, the kind of spatial calm that urban bistros can't replicate. For a food-focused traveller, that unhurried quality is part of what you're paying for.
For travellers considering Les Chênes as a weekend destination, the format rewards advance planning. Traditional French cuisine at this recognition level typically anchors around a structured lunch service — particularly on Sundays, which in rural France remains the week's most important meal. A Michelin Plate restaurant in a village this size is almost certainly built around that rhythm. This is not a brunch-in-the-modern-sense venue; think instead of the classic French Sunday lunch: multiple courses, regional produce, a proper wine list, and no pressure to turn the table. If that format suits you , and for the explorer-minded traveller who has come specifically to eat well in the Auvergne, it should , then Les Chênes at the €€ price range is among the more accessible ways to experience Michelin-level recognition in rural central France. The operating hours are not published in our current data, so confirm directly before making the drive.
Booking at Les Chênes is rated Easy , this is not a restaurant requiring weeks of forward planning the way a Michelin-starred destination in Paris or Lyon would. That said, a rural Michelin Plate venue in a small village operates on limited covers, and arriving without a reservation on a Sunday lunch service is a genuine risk. Book at least a few days ahead for weekday visits; for weekend lunch, a week's notice is sensible. Phone and online booking details are not currently listed in our data , check recent Google listings or visit the address page directly to source current contact information.
Getting to Augerolles requires a car. The village sits in the Livradois-Forez park east of Thiers, roughly accessible from Clermont-Ferrand as a day trip. If you are building a wider Auvergne food itinerary, pair a meal at Les Chênes with exploration of the surrounding natural park rather than treating it as a standalone evening destination from a major city. For broader dining context in the area, see our full Augerolles restaurants guide, and if you're staying overnight, our Augerolles hotels guide covers accommodation options nearby. You can also explore bars, wineries, and experiences in Augerolles to build a fuller visit.
Comparing Les Chênes against other Michelin-recognised traditional cuisine venues in France helps frame what you're getting. For a closer geographic comparison, Troisgros - Le Bois sans Feuilles in Ouches and Bras in Laguiole represent the higher end of rural French fine dining , multiple Michelin stars, destination-level pricing, and booking windows of months rather than days. Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern offers a comparable countryside-restaurant-as-destination format but with a significantly higher price ceiling. Les Chênes is the right call if you want Michelin-acknowledged quality in a genuinely accessible price bracket and are already travelling through the Auvergne. For other traditional cuisine references worth knowing, see Auberge Grand'Maison in Mûr-de-Bretagne and Cave à Vin & à Manger - Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne for broadly similar positioning in different French regions. For further context on France's broader top-tier dining scene, Mirazur in Menton, Flocons de Sel in Megève, AM par Alexandre Mazzia in Marseille, Assiette Champenoise in Reims, Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, Auberge du Vieux Puits in Fontjoncouse, Paul Bocuse - L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, and Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris represent the country's higher-starred tier and a significantly different price and booking proposition.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Les Chênes | Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€ | — |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Kei | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| L'Ambroisie | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Mirazur | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
Comparing your options in Augerolles for this tier.
At €€ pricing with two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025), Les Chênes delivers traditional French cuisine at a price point that makes the value case easy. If you want elaborate modern tasting formats, look elsewhere — this is classic regional cooking, and the recognition confirms it is done well. For the price and the setting in Augerolles, it is hard to find fault with the proposition.
Bar seating specifics are not confirmed for Les Chênes, so plan for a table reservation rather than a casual drop-in at the counter. Given the rural village location and Michelin recognition, this is a sit-down dining destination. check the venue's official channels before assuming informal bar access is available.
Yes, with the right expectations. The Michelin Plate across two consecutive years signals consistent quality, and the €€ price range makes a special-occasion meal here less financially loaded than comparable Michelin-recognised restaurants in Clermont-Ferrand or Lyon. The trade-off is the remote Livradois-Forez location — factor in travel time and consider combining it with a wider Auvergne trip.
Augerolles is a small village off the main Auvergne tourist routes, so arriving without a reservation is a risk not worth taking. The cuisine type is traditional French — expect regional craft cooking rather than contemporary tasting menus. The address is on the Route de Courpière at the village exit, so use navigation rather than relying on signage from the main road.
Specific dishes are not confirmed in available records, so ordering to the chef's recommendations or a set menu is the sensible approach at a Michelin Plate traditional cuisine restaurant. Seasonal, regional produce drives the kitchen at this category of French country venue — ask staff what is current when you arrive rather than committing to a fixed expectation in advance.
Augerolles itself has no direct dining comparators at this recognition level. For Michelin-recognised traditional French cuisine in the wider Puy-de-Dôme and Auvergne area, you need to travel toward Clermont-Ferrand or into the Livradois-Forez towns. Les Chênes is the anchor option in this specific part of the region — if you want Michelin quality without driving to a city, it is the practical choice here.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.