Yannick Alléno enters the Musée Grévin, tying his apron
The chef with 18 Michelin stars now has a wax double on boulevard Montmartre. It took six months, a hand cast and hair set strand by strand. The star count behind it depends on who is counting.
The Yannick Alléno Musée Grévin figure was unveiled in Paris on Tuesday 13 October, with the chef standing next to it. Sculpted by Claus Velte over six months, the wax Alléno wears a chef's jacket embroidered with his name and is caught in the act of tying his apron.
The museum on boulevard Montmartre, in the 9th arrondissement, places him among the French cooks already in its collection, of whom Paul Bocuse and Anne-Sophie Pic are named in every report. None of the reports says in which room the figure stands. Readers who would rather eat in Paris than look at wax can start with our list of the best restaurants in Paris; Alléno's own next opening is L'Abysse Dubai, which opens on 19 October.
"I dreamt of it, Grévin did it. For the Parisian that I am, entering this institution is immense," Alléno said at the reception, as quoted by ODS Radio and by the food writer Stéphane Larue. He added that he would be "very happy" if the figure persuaded a few young people to become cooks.
Eighteen stars, ten restaurants, one wax figure: the only part of the group that never travels.
How the Yannick Alléno Musée Grévin figure was made
A first sitting fixes the pose and records the model's features, from hair to eye and skin colour and even a dental imprint, the Paris weekly Affiches Parisiennes reports; a second sitting checks the modelling. Natural hair was set into the head strand by strand, an ocular prosthetist made the eyes and the museum took a cast of his hands. Véronique Berecz, the museum's head of external relations, described the apron pose.
Eighteen stars, depending on who counts
Alléno's group has claimed 18 Michelin stars since 16 March, when Monsieur Dior, the restaurant at 30 avenue Montaigne he has run since September 2025, won its first. The Craft Guild of Chefs spreads them over ten restaurants: three each for Alléno Paris and Le 1947 in Courchevel; two each for L'Abysse Paris, L'Abysse Monte-Carlo, La Table de Pavie in Saint-Émilion and STAY in Dubai; one each for Pavyllon Paris, Pavyllon Monte-Carlo, Pavyllon London and Monsieur Dior.
The group presents him as the most-starred cook in the world. The Italian site Dissapore did its own sums in March and ranked him third, behind the record 32 of Joël Robuchon and the 20 of Alain Ducasse.
What comes next is less static. On 19 October Alléno opens L'Abysse Dubai and the Italian seafood terrace Casea 101 at One&Only The Palm, where STAY kept its two stars this month. Gault&Millau names Pavyllon Lyon, a restaurant-school designed with the Lyfe Institute, as his project for 2026. The wax version, at least, will stay in one city.
