Celebrated for his traditional, simple and authentic French food, the “pope of French cuisine” as commonly referred, passed away in a room above his three Michelin-starred restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, in his native town of Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, reports claim.

A statement released by his family said: “It is with great sorrow that we inform you of the death of Paul Bocuse. Our ‘Captain’ died on January 20^th, at the dawn of his 92^nd birthday.

“Much more than a father and a husband, he is a man of heart, a spiritual father, an emblematic figure of world gastronomy, and a tricolore porte.

“Mr Paul love life, sharing, transmission, and his crew. These same values will continue to inspire us forever.”

French president Emmanuel Macron also released a statement, in which he said: “French gastronomy loses a mythical figure… The chefs cry in their kitchens, at the Elysee (presidential palace) and everywhere in France.

Having trained a number of chefs, including Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay, Bocuse is a much-loved industry figure and often credited for “"profoundly changing" French cooking which “stressed fresh ingredients, lighter sauces, unusual flavour combinations and relentless innovation that, in his (Bocuse’s) case, rested on a solid mastery of classic technique,” the NY Times said.

Among tributes from a number of chefs worldwide, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted: “"Paul Bocuse is dead. Gastronomy is in mourning.

"Mr Paul was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art of living. The pope of gastronomes leaves us. May our chefs, in Lyon, as in the four corners of the world, long cultivate the fruits of his passion.”