Benoit Violier – whose renowned three-star restaurant in a small Swiss town was in December ranked best in the world – was found dead in his in an apparent suicide.  Mr Violier, 44, ran the Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville in Crissier, near the city of Lausanne. It earned three Michelin stars and came top in France’s La Liste ranking of the world’s 1,000 best eateries.

His death comes some six months after that of Philippe Rochat, his mentor and predecessor at the Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville. Having worked at the restaurant since 1996, Mr Violier took it over along with his wife Brigitte in 2012, before obtaining Swiss nationality. A keen hunter, he was known for signature dishes including game and produced a weighty book on game meat last year.

Accepting the French award, given by France’s foreign ministry as an alternative to the World’s Best 50 Restaurants prize, he said it was an “exceptional” honour.