South African chef Chantel Dartnall, known for her nature-inspired cuisine, has moved from Restaurant Mosaic at the Orient boutique hotel near Pretoria to Restaurant Mosaic in a restored château in Brittany, France.
During her 15 years at the Mosaic in South Africa, she built a reputation for refinement, innovation and attention to detail. She had long wanted to open a restaurant in France, and during the pandemic her family found the château that would become their new home. Location was key: she wanted proximity to good produce and a tranquil environment.
After navigating French bureaucracy, the Dartnall and Du Plessis family bought Château des Tesnières, moving in in 2021. Four years of painstaking renovation followed, and the 19th-century Neo-Renaissance estate in the commune of Torcé reopened in May this year.
Dartnall’s paternal ancestors were Huguenots who fled to South Africa. “For us it was almost like returning to the source,” says Dartnall.
The château offers overnight stays for restaurant clients in one of six suites, though French regulations allow only five to be rented out at a time. The suites pay tribute to women of history and mythology, including Queen Anne of Brittany, Empress Mumtaz Mahal of India, Africa’s Queen of Sheba, Empress Cixi of China and Persian storyteller Scheherazade.
“It doesn’t feel like 2025 when you walk into the rooms,” says Dartnall. “It’s opulent, but also timeless.”
The interiors were a family project, with input from Paris-based decorator Martine di Matteo. The Orient boutique hotel in South Africa housed the Tienie Pritchard sculpture museum and an art collection of Adriaan Boshoff, one of the country’s foremost impressionists. These have yet to be installed at the château; Dartnall says in time, the entire collection will be displayed.
The family are already welcoming guests from South Africa, Europe and the UK. The restaurant seats 20, about half the capacity of the original Mosaic.
Dartnall’s cuisine has always embraced harmony, simplicity and seasonal ingredients. She uses edible flowers, herbs and other natural elements to create visually striking and delicately balanced dishes. In 2017, she was named the world’s best female chef and ranked 32nd overall globally — one of many honours to her name. Her pedigree includes time with some of the UK’s finest chefs, including Nico Ladenis at the three-star Michelin restaurant Chez Nico in London and Michael Caines at the two-star Gidleigh Park in Devon.
In Brittany the menu features local shellfish and a signature dish of chestnut-fed pigeon. South African influences remain: Franschhoek mosbolletjies, biltong with coriander and brioche as part of the amuse-bouches. “I still tell the stories behind the dishes — where the inspiration came from and how they came to be,” she says.
She says the family are settling in well. One of the biggest surprises? The welcome from the local community. “Initially I was a bit wary, thinking we’re moving to this small village in the middle of nowhere. And how are they going to respond to our family of South Africans?” Instead, they have received support. “Neighbours bring me strawberries, lettuce, courgettes. It’s been a phenomenal journey”.
The biggest challenge, she says, has been the language. “We’re all learning French. I think they appreciate that we’re trying.”
It has always been a family affair. Her mother, Mari, helped run the original restaurant, while her father, Cobus du Plessis, manages the château’s wine cellar, operations and infrastructure. He also curates the wine list, which has already attracted international recognition, including the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Dartnall’s sister, Mari-Louise Roux, is leading the garden project, and her brother-in-law, Meyrand Roux, who also makes the biltong, is involved with the estate’s landscaping. They brought six members of the original Mosaic team to join them in France.
Dartnall is not driven by scale or expansion just for the sake of it — excellence, attention to detail and presence are what matter. “If I’m not in the kitchen, the restaurant and the rooms are not open.”
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