{"id":58778,"date":"2026-06-07T14:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T06:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=58778"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T06:25:03","slug":"where-did-sezannes-3-michelin-stars-go-guide-strips-status-after-head-chef-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=58778","title":{"rendered":"Where did S\u00e9zanne\u2019s 3 Michelin stars go? Guide strips status after head chef departure"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Tokyo\u2019s S\u00e9zanne restaurant, which once held the No 1 spot on Asia\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants list<\/span>, has been quietly stripped of its three Michelin stars ahead of the guide\u2019s next update in autumn 2026. The change follows the high-profile departure of its opening chef, Daniel Calvert, in April, leaving his replacement, Stephen Lancaster, to start from scratch.<\/div>\n
S\u00e9zanne, located inside the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, experienced a meteoric rise under Calvert\u2019s reign. Launched in July 2021<\/span>, S\u00e9zanne earned its first Michelin star within six months, secured a second star a year later and achieved prestigious three-star status in late 2024.<\/div>\n

Reclaiming status<\/h3>\n

Lancaster, who cemented his reputation in Singapore\u2019s competitive culinary scene at Saint Pierre, leading the establishment to two-Michelin-star status, will face the pressure of reclaiming star status for S\u00e9zanne. It will be familiar ground; in 2022, Lancaster debuted his restaurant, Poise (now closed), clinching a Michelin star within its first year.<\/p>\n

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\"Stephen<\/div>
Stephen Lancaster is the new head chef of S\u00e9zanne. Photo: S\u00e9zanne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In a written response to queries from the South China Morning Post regarding S\u00e9zanne\u2019s star status, the Michelin Japan team explained that \u201cfollowing significant changes at S\u00e9zanne in spring 2026, the restaurant\u2019s previous listing on the Michelin Guide website was taken offline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe restaurant has since reopened with a new team and now appears again on our platform with a new listing. As is standard in such circumstances, it is currently under evaluation by our inspectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift is significant, given an article on the Michelin Guide website from 2016 states that \u201cstar ratings remain unaffected even if a restaurant\u2019s head chef decides to leave halfway through the year and a new chef comes on board\u201d.<\/p>\n

In another article published in 2025, in response to the question of whether Michelin removes a restaurant\u2019s star designation following the departure of its head chef, the website states: \u201cNo. Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants, not chefs. If a restaurant promotes a sous chef or brings in a new head chef and they maintain the same standard of cooking, then the restaurant will keep its star.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Chef<\/div>
Chef Daniel Calvert\u2019s Instagram post on September 25, 2025, celebrating S\u00e9zanne\u2019s three Michelin stars in Tokyo. Photo: Instagram\/chefdanielcalvert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Tokyo\u2019s S\u00e9zanne restaurant, which once held the No 1 spot on Asia\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants list, has been quietly stripped of its three Michelin stars…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[809,12160,1032,475,24322,4424,10957,13893],"class_list":["post-58778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-chef","tag-departure","tag-guide","tag-michelin","tag-sezannes","tag-stars","tag-status","tag-strips","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}