{"id":291759,"date":"2026-02-14T23:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/291759\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:41:09","slug":"meet-bjorn-frantzen-the-chef-with-3-michelin-3-star-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/291759\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Bj\u00f6rn Frantz\u00e9n, the Chef With 3 Michelin 3-Star Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA professional kitchen, no matter the prices on the menu, is almost certainly a stressful environment. (Have you seen The Bear<\/a>?) Add in the pressure of keeping one Michelin star<\/a>, two, three\u2014the weight can seem unthinkable. Now multiply that by three yet again, and you\u2019ll start to imagine what life is like for Bj\u00f6rn Frantz\u00e9n.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 49-year-old Swede is the only chef to helm a trio of the world\u2019s 157 Michelin three-star restaurants: Frantz\u00e9n,<\/a> in Stockholm, received three stars in 2018; Z\u00e9n<\/a>, in Singapore, followed in 2021; and Dubai<\/a>\u2019s FZN<\/a> was awarded the guide\u2019s highest honor just last year, mere months after opening. While Frantz\u00e9n admits that he feels pressure to stay on top, he tells Robb Report that he doesn\u2019t lose sleep thinking about how to please the Michelin inspectors year after year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA tower of sweets served with after-dinner coffee, crowned by a brown-cheese fudge tartlet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Frantz\u00e9n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a relief when you keep [the ranking], but I hope that myself, my team, and all our regular guests will react a lot quicker than once a year if we\u2019re on the wrong track,\u201d he says over the phone from London, where he\u2019s doing site visits for potential projects. \u201cWe need to be our absolute best. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s the Michelin Guide or if it\u2019s a grandmother from the northern parts of Sweden. It\u2019s the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis mindset is perhaps why Frantz\u00e9n has become one of the most successful chefs on the planet\u2014he\u2019s as focused, if not more so, on his regulars and the diners who save up to eat his Nordic-inflected fare (think pickling, fermenting, and the like) as he is on the critics and talking heads who can make or break restaurants. And he\u2019s often thinking more about day-to-day issues\u2014like a storm in Norway preventing the arrival of king crabs\u2014than about the highs and lows that come from winning or losing accolades.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe kitchen at FZN in Dubai, which earned three Michelin stars months after opening.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Frantz\u00e9n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe demanding world of fine dining<\/a> isn\u2019t where Frantz\u00e9n imagined himself when he was a child. His early life revolved around soccer; he even played professionally for five years. A congenital heart condition brought an end to his athlete dreams, but cooking had long been on the back burner. Frantz\u00e9n still fondly recalls a dish of steak frites he had at age 12 or 13\u2014\u201cIt was a hallelujah moment for me,\u201d he says of the meal\u2014and so, when a life on the pitch became impossible, he pivoted to the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter studying at a culinary school in Stockholm where he trained in the classical French tradition, he worked at a handful of Michelin-starred spots including Pied \u00e0 Terre in London and L\u2019Arp\u00e8ge in Paris. In 2008, he teamed up with chef Daniel Lindeberg to open Frantz\u00e9n\/Lindeberg, which became one of the few restaurants in the Nordic region to hold two Michelin stars at the time.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Shiso<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tShiso flowers and caviar atop a dish of red-deer tartare.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Frantz\u00e9n<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Lindeberg left in 2013, the restaurant didn\u2019t drop his name until it moved locations in 2017 and became, simply, Frantz\u00e9n\u2014marking its proprietor\u2019s debut as a solo restaurateur. Nearly two decades later, the Frantz\u00e9n Group<\/a> operates nine establishments from Bangkok to Marbella, all of them uniting Swedish heritage with French technique and Asian influences, especially Japanese cuisine. \u201cEach restaurant is a project and a little town of itself,\u201d the chef says. \u201cWe say no to a lot of offers. We are building the company slow and steady.\u201d This year isn\u2019t shaping up to be so quiet, though: The group is set to open six to eight restaurants in 2026, including a Brasserie Astoria<\/a> outpost in London and a completely new concept in Stockholm. Called Emberlin<\/a>, this will be Frantz\u00e9n\u2019s take on the classic steakhouse. It\u2019s scheduled to open in late summer, and he already has ambitions for it to expand around the globe.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of the kitchen, Frantz\u00e9n keeps himself busy looking after his two teenage daughters and their golden retriever, Aston. At home, he mostly cooks simple, quick meals, relying on local classics like Swedish meatballs. He loves music and listens to everything from hip-hip to rock to opera to Swedish pop. \u201cMy Spotify is a freak,\u201d he says. When we spoke, he had recently gone to a Metallica concert in Abu Dhabi. And even though he no longer plays soccer, Frantz\u00e9n still runs and plays golf, a sport he admits \u201csuits my age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Deep-fried<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDeep-fried langoustine with crispy rice and a pickled-jalape\u00f1o emulsion.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Frantz\u00e9n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a kid on the pitch, Frantz\u00e9n never imagined that he\u2019d be one of the most highly awarded chefs of his generation. And even when he first branched out into the culinary world, he felt more or less the same. \u201cMy main objective when I started my first restaurant was to try to achieve two Michelin stars,\u201d he explains. \u201cI would never have thought I would have three restaurants with three Michelin stars. So, I would say that\u2019s pretty well played from a lad from the suburbs without rich parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Tori<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTori Latham\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not\u2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t
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