Davao City
If you are looking for authentic French regional cuisine, prefer generous portions to presentation frills, and enjoys homey atmosphere, Claude’s is a must!
Claude’s Le Café de Ville is one of the archipelago’s best restaurants and serves authentic French and Mediterranean dishes in a convivial and laid-back setting within the white Oboza ancestral house along Rizal Street, right in the heart of Davao City!
Established since 1996, Davao’s premier and only full-service restaurant offering authentic French cuisine, where tastes matter most on the plate, and where the chef’s personal touch counts, together with his staff’s consistent attention to guests. From the day it opened on May 1, 1996 until today, Claude’s has always offered and will always have in mind its three top most priorities:
• Traditional French, Mediterranean and regional European home cuisine adapting to the demands of the times but always consistent with its quality on the plate;
• Sincere traditional hospitality and service excellence, always promptly with a smile and personal touch to make its guests really feel at home;
• Country home ambience in the interior decors, to allow guests to relax with ease, comfort, and a cozy welcome atmosphere that any house guest enjoys.
At the helm and heart of Claude’s, there’s over 50 years of global experience in the hotel and restaurant industry, where the owner and chef are one. Claude Le Neindre, born in Tours of the Loire Valley in France, started training in an early age in his hometown at the Hotel de L’Univers (a city landmark that still exists today) and the L’Etoile d’Potel in Paris. His early initiation into the food and beverage world was the start of a lifetime career which took him to the four corners of the globe, working with no less than 5-Star chains: the Hilton, the Inter*Continental, and the Sofitel and Novotel of the Accor Group. After a short 3-year partnership owning and managing a 16th century property in France called Hotel du Dauphin in L’Aigle, Normandy, Claude sold his shares, and together with wife Tess decided to settle back in the Philippines, and for them, home is Davao City.
As a meaningful re-entry into the mainstream of the city, he initially worked with Pearl Farm Resort as resident manager for two years. Then in November 1995, he started to build his namesake restaurant and officially opened on the 1st of May 1996.
A husband and wife team, Claude takes care of the restaurant operations while Tess does the back of the house as accounting, finance and property administration. All of Claude’s senior staff had been working with the Le Neindre’s for more than ten years while the junior support staff working with them for at least five years of good service.
After seven months of restoration works, Claude’s transferred its operations to a bigger venue at the Oboza Heritage House at 143 Rizal Street. They opened its doors again in September 16, 2011 to welcome and entertain valued guests and friends to its new venue with green lush garden, trees, and adequate parking spaces.
The Le Neindre’s are blessed with three children: Celina born in 1983 earned her culinary arts diploma then trained and worked four years in the south of France then Monaco, is now a practicing F&B consultant. Clarissa born in 1984 is still pursuing her diploma in education, and Alexandre born in 1993 is currently studying at the International School For Culinary Arts & Hotel Management in Quezon City, Philippines.
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