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They buy at Rungis

Each month, discover two new purchaser portraits.


This month :

Previous portraits :

Pierre Lecoutre, restaurateur

Presented in a superb setting, the cuisine of Pierre Lecoutre is the image of its chef: authentic and passionately committed to quality…

"Using natural products on a daily basis makes it easier for us to really put our heart into our work… "

How did you become a chef?
I was born in Aumale (Seine-Maritime) into a family of country grocers in Normandy that had been in the business for three generations. When I was little, I was always surrounded by the delicious smells of grilled coffee beans, dried beans, milk, cheese, sweets, all mixed with the mouth-watering aromas drifting in from the baker-pastry chef and the butcher-charcutier who worked close by. When you add in my mother's cordon bleu cooking, and the regular family restaurant outings on Sundays, you can see where my love of cooking comes from.

What kind of cuisine do you propose?
We try to offer a cuisine at the very best quality/price ratio; a traditional cuisine packed with flavour, and using only top-quality, natural produce. I am a traditionalist with a passion for good cooking and I have no time for people who just want to show off. We offer the genuine article, authentic seasonal cuisine; I want all my customers to leave with a good impression of our restaurant. We have two set menus and one 'a la carte' menu with a choice of seven starters, six main dishes (two fish dishes and four meat dishes), five desserts, and a few vegetarian options. We propose top-quality label products such as poultry (Bresse, Coucou de Rennes, Géline de Touraine breeds, etc.), tripe, top-of-the-range sea fish (line-caught sea bass, pollack, line-caught turbot) and river fish. Our flagship dishes include Paimpol oysters with green apple, hare 'a la royale', loin of black Bigorre pork with smoked Arleux garlic, organic eggs served with fresh morel mushrooms with an emulsion of foie gras, sea bass with star anise served with poivrade artichoke, Saint-Jacques scallops with Sechuan pepper, red mullet served on a bed of steamed squid flavoured with Arabian spices, and seasonal game. We always have a supply of home-made foie gras and hot Chartreuse-flavoured soufflés.

How are you organized?
We have a nine-strong team in the kitchen and seven in the dining room. I am seconded by Denis Groison, a highly motivated and dedicated thirty-year old chef who graduated from the Gregoire Ferrandi School in Paris after having studied chemistry at university. He began his career in Paris, at Les Olivades, joined my team for a while, did a stint in Lyon, and finally came back to work with me. He is especially interested in developing the art of cuisine and the products. He has injected an immense amount of energy and drive into the restaurant since he arrived, and I give him complete freedom to make his own choices. There is an excellent communication flow between us.
I insist on the importance of our kitchen having its own distinctive personality, and I'm always telling my team, "Put your heart and soul into preparing these dishes". Actually, using natural products on a daily basis makes it easier for us really put our heart into our work.
Every week we change two to three dishes on the menu. We also propose several tasting dishes (a selection taken from both the set menus and our 'a la carte' menu). We handle about 120 covers per day with an average meal ticket of €50, wine included. We have an excellent wine cellar, boasting 300 top-quality product references with the accent on red rather than white wines. We mainly stock wines from small wine producers who run

  small vineyards where the grapes are picked by hand, only very lightly sulphured and have absolutely no artifice.
We have a highly diverse customer base: Parisians, local people, people from the provinces, foreigners (we are well known on the other side of the Channel), owners of art galleries and artists from the Marais, actors and show people, etc.


What do you think about the new trends in cuisine?
The current trend is towards curiosity and innovation, but you have to be logical about taste and flavour; there is no point in trying to marry ingredients that patently don't go together. While I am always open to new ideas and new cooking approaches, I still remain very attached to traditional values and flavours, and to a harmonious marriage between culinary and gustatory ideals. When you're in the kitchen, it is the product that counts first and foremost. I would personally like to see greater emphasis on different vegetable varieties. Producers should think seriously about this. In my opinion, the future trend will be for restaurants where the kitchen opens on to the dining room meaning customers can see their dish being prepared using ingredients they have selected themselves. Customers will therefore play the role of both consumer and spectator. I am already doing this to a certain degree in my other restaurant, Le Café des Musées, a traditional French bistro where customers have a clear view of the kitchen.

What do you think about Rungis Market?
I go to Rungis twice a week as I like to see the products and choose them myself. We are very lucky to have such a great market and such high-quality products right on Paris's doorstep. I even chose my apartment in relation to Rungis. I buy practically all my products at Rungis, especially on the producers trading floor where there is a real rapport between producers and chefs.

Background
After high school, Pierre Lecoutre (49 years old) entered catering school in Brussels where he graduated with a "vocational" baccalaureate in cuisine.
He started his career in Brussels (at Le Centenaire and Comme Chez Soi) before moving to Paris to work at the Mercure Galant and later Regine’s. He continued in Dijon, joining the teams at Les Caves de la Cloche, and then at L’Oasis, and La Napoule. At the age of 24 years, he did a spell in Singapore before joining the Méridien in Hong-Kong. Once back in Paris, he joined the team at Taillevent before going off once again, this time to Hawaii. On his return to France, he became chef at Jean Bardet's restaurant, in Tours. His next step was to take over the running of a restaurant in Nantes, L’Atlantide, where he was awarded his first Michelin star. After a spell in the USA, he finally set up his own business in October 98, with the purchase of Le Dôme du Marais, the former Mont de Piété (pawnshop), famed for its superb glass dome. After some major refurbishment work, the restaurant opened its doors in March 1999. It has one star in the Bottin Gourmand.


Key figures
Restaurant Le Dôme du Marais (53 bis, rue des Francs bourgeois – Paris 4th arrondissement)
17 employees
120 covers a day
Average meal ticket: €50

Bistrot Le Café des Musées (49, rue de Turenne – Paris 3rd arrondissement)
20 employees
150 covers a day
Average meal ticket: €22 (lunch) and €33 (dinner)

Rémi Van Peteghem, chief

A young chef with a "starry" future, Rémi Van Peteghem offers an original cuisine that marries a subtle blend of tradition and modernity…

"The life force of gastronomy remains the use of top-quality products..."

How did you become a chef ?
I ended up as a chef more or less by accident as I wasn't really cut out for academic school study. The real revelation came in 1994 when I entered the Gregoire Ferrandi School in Paris for a joint work/study course. While I was studying for my CAP, BEP and Bac "pro", I worked in some of the major restaurants where I learnt to love the world of gastronomy and catering. I started out at the Carré des Feuillants where I stayed for two years, followed by another two years at the Méridien Montparnasse, after which I joined Il Cortile with Nicolas Vernier, the Italian restaurant run by Alain Ducasse. Next, at Guy Martin's request, I joined the team at the Grand Véfour, as section head, the year the restaurant was awarded its 3rd Michelin star. I stayed there for about two years. I felt an immense pride in being part of this extraordinary team where we only worked with the very best of top-of-the-range products. I then spent six months at L’Arpège with Alain Passard. Here I learned a lot about having respect for your products, for their preparation and cooking. I continued my career trajectory with a spell at Le Doyen with Christian Le Squer where, during three years, I learnt everything about the latest cooking techniques (vacuum-cooking, emulsions, siphon technique and how to work with espumas (light foams). I then worked at Lasserre under Jean-Louis Nomicos, where I learnt about restaurant management and how to calculate material costs. Lastly, I came back to the Grand Véfour, before finally taking over as manager of Sensing, Guy Martin's restaurant, in August 2006.

What kind of cuisine do you propose?
At Sensing, we offer a cuisine that fires up all five senses and that has a strong modernist approach. I only use top-of-the-range products as you cannot produce great cuisine without great products. For example, Corrèze suckling calf is a meat of exceptional quality that I always have on the menu. I also offer a recipe showcasing red tuna with foie gras: cubes of lean red tuna stuffed with foie gras, sprinkled with a veal jus and served with Jerusalem artichokes or cress and herring roe.
Another longstanding element on my menu was a dish of boneless pigeon roasted in muscovado sugar - an unrefined brown sugar from Mauritius which has light liquorice overtones - and served with a maple syrup sauce.
I make every effort to present products to their best advantage without over handling them, and all my dishes are accompanied by one or two garnishes. I take my inspiration from traditional French cuisine, and then add my own touch by using novel cooking techniques that give the dishes a lighter, slightly more structured touch. When properly used, the vacuum technique lets you concentrate aromas, produce perfect textures, and produce exceptionally tender and juicy fish and meat. I also pan-fry certain snack-foods such as Saint-Jacques scallops.
My kitchen is a perfect balance between tradition and modernity. It is refined, but always takes care not to mask the product, which remains the central point of interest.

   How are you organized ?
We have a team of eight in the kitchen, including two apprentices, and seven in the dining room. I am seconded by Tanguy Laviale who I met while working at Lasserre, and with whom I have an excellent working relationship. We share the same ideas about where we want to take our cuisine and understand each other perfectly. I am also lucky in having an excellent and highly dedicated team.
Our restaurant is located at 19, rue Bréa (Paris 6th arrondissement), and is open 6 days a week (closed on Sundays and Monday afternoons). During the week, we handle 30 covers at lunchtime and nearly 60 for dinner, while at weekends, we handle up to 75 covers. Our average meal ticket does not exceed €80, wine included. The menu proposes a choice of 4 starters, 4 fish dishes, 4 meat dishes and 4 desserts. I change this menu on a regular basis i.e. by changing 3 or 4 dishes every six weeks so as to follow product seasonality. In summer, the menu changes more frequently as we have far more products to choose from. As far as I'm concerned, summer is the best season. When I visit the producers' trading floor at Rungis, I'm like a little child that's been let loose in a toy store.

How would you describe developments in the world of haute cuisine ?
The world of haute cuisine has changed radically over the last ten years with the introduction of new techniques, but despite this, the life force of gastronomy remains the use of top-quality products. Similarly, customers have also changed becoming more demanding and better informed. I believe that a chef should always strive to surprise and enthral their customers, to encourage them to want to try out new dishes, to have them indulge in flights of fancy by introducing them to their own special brand of cuisine.
Personally, I never try to copy any of the great chefs or to recreate any of their recipes. I want to be original and independent. I have even been known to take a dish off the menu if I thought it was too similar to a recipe of one of my former bosses. I have no qualms about the future of haute cuisine as there will always be consumers seeking to eat well and who are not willing to eat just anything!

What do you think about Rungis Market ?
I couldn't live without my visits to Rungis. My cuisine has its roots there. I buy all my fruits and vegetables there, plus game, poultry, etc.; in all 60% of my total purchases are made at Rungis. This market is famed the world over and has a vocation to showcase the very best in French produce, as is the case with the products on the producers' trading floor.

Background
Born in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), Rémi Van Peteghem (30 years old) is the son of an SNCF (French National Railway Society) engineer and an English teacher. He became a chef quite by accident (sometimes luck turns out a winner…), discovering a passion for the world of cuisine on entering the Gregoire Ferrandi School in Paris at the age of 16 years, and during his many professional training experiences (see above).
During his rare leisure time, Rémi Van Peteghem likes to practice wakeboarding on the River Seine.


Key figures

Workforce: 15 employees (8 in the kitchen, 7 in the dining room)
Covers: 100 covers a day
Wine cellar: 350 product references

Georges Belondrade and Jean-Luc Blanlot, restaurateur

Georges Belondrade and Jean-Luc Blanlot combine the complementary skills to uphold the renown of classic Parisian brasserie Bofinger…

“Bofinger is continuing the tradition of excellence in Alsatian gastronomy…”

How was the brasserie first established?
Bofinger, at 7 rue de la Bastille in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, just by the Place de la Bastille, is the oldest brasserie in Paris. It was established back in 1864 by Frédéric Bofinger from Molsheim in the Alsace. Under the French Ancien Régime (‘old rule’) system, the district employed many Alsatians for their skills as joiners and cabinet-makers. Frédéric Bofinger started out serving beer and a handful of cold meat and pork delicacies. At the time, he was the first in Paris to offer a 24° draught beer. As the menu expanded with the addition of good old Alsatian produce, his growing renown attracted more and more customers who came in not just for the high-quality dishes but also to admire the superb interior design, which boasted paintings by Jean-Jacques Waltz, also known as ‘Hansi’…
Now owned by the FLO group following a takeover by Paul Bucher in 1996, Bofinger as an institution continues the tradition of excellence in Alsatian gastronomy.

How would you describe your menu?
Our menu is 70% Alsatian dishes. It features the famous Angsthelm-recipe choucroute, in ‘traditional’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘Bofinger special’ and ‘seafood’ versions. There is also home-made foie gras with stewed pears and a Szechuan pepper macaroon; coq au reisling; gamey venison stew pot-roasted in Pinot noir, with spätzles; roasted, pork shank (900 g/person) lacquered in beer; plus Munster cheese and pinot noir-based dishes, bäckeoffe, and a wide array of desserts, including: Iced kougelhopf, apple streussel, custard tart with fortified Gewurztraminer marc…
The most popular dishes are the choucroutes, the roast shank, and desserts-wise, the vanilla and blackcurrant-infused vacherin cheese. We have 300 customers eating cabbage dishes at Bofinger daily. In winter, we serve 100 kg of choucroute and 50 kg of cold meats a day, plus 80 kg of foie gras and 90 kg of game stew a week.
Our menu follows customer demand. Everything we do is tasted and validated before hitting the menu. We tend not to play around with the menu, as the customers come mainly for our signature dishes.
Alongside our specials, we also serve typically brasserie-style dishes, like calf sweetbreads, fish, trotters, ‘5A’ class tripe sausage, seafood platters, and many more… We have also pioneered a number of more atypical brasserie dishes: terrines of game, oxtail, or wild boar, plus a foie gras terrine, scampi and artichoke conserve, a pâté loaf cooked in Riesling…
The wine cellar boasts a good 60 references, over a third of which are Alsace wines, including Riesling, Gewurztraminer and late-harvested Gewurztraminer, Pinot noir, Pinot gris, and more.

 

  

What kind of customers do you attract?
The establishment can seat 270. Right now (January-February), we serve 250 covers at midday and 500 in the evening shift, 350 at Saturday dinner and over 600 on a Saturday evening. There have been Saturday evenings in winter where we have been known to serve 950 to a thousand covers on one day. Our year-round average is 670 covers a day. For late-in-the-week dinners, our reservations book is often full for a fortnight. On Friday and Saturday nights between October and April, we have to refuse between 500 and 600 potential diners. The average lunch bill is €47, and €57 for the evening sittings. We have a wide variety of customers, who all come to Bofinger for the Alsatian menu, the setting, and the atmosphere. We have a good number of regular customers, some of whom have been ‘with us’ for three generations. We also get a lot of people all across France, and a number of foreigners. Customers come in from the Bastille Opéra (audience, singers and musicians alike), as well as many well-known faces from all kinds of sectors and countries, including the art scene and performing arts, intellectuals, sport stars, politicians, fashion people, industrials, etc.

What do you think about Rungis Market?
We make over 80% of our purchases at Rungis, through the company Convergence Achats who are established at the Market itself. We buy our meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, dairy produce, groceries… Rungis boasts a huge range of produce, always extremely fresh and with the same unbeatable level of quality, served by real professionals. Rungis works customer-centrically; it is a place where you build trusted relationships.

Background

Georges Belondrade, 43, is head of the Bofinger kitchens. Paris-born, he graduated through the Médéric Catering School (vocational diploma as part of a sandwich course). He started his career in a number of Parisian establishments, including the Royal Monceau, before joining Bofinger brasserie from 1985 to 1997. He left for a year-long stint at La Coupole (FLO Group) and then on to Le Galopin, where he stayed for 7 years. In September 2004, Jean-Luc Blanlot lured him back to Bofinger to head the kitchens.

Jean-Luc Blanlot, Managing Director of Bofinger, is 53 years old. Born in Bayeux, he started working in restaurants (the dining floor) when he was 15. He was still a teenager when he left to work in England (Brighton) to learn English. Following a winter season at Val d’Isère (Sofitel), he worked at the Le Touquet (Flavio) and then on to Nancy, before arriving in Paris, where he joined Le Pressoir. In 1981, he joined the FLO group (Le Vaudeville, Le Terminus Nord) as head maître d’, and joined Bofinger in 1996 as operational business director.

Key figures

Staff : 104 staff (including 42 chefs/pastry cooks, 18 maître d’, 22 waiters, 5 barmen, 5 oystermen, 4 cloakroom staff, 6 glass-washers, 4 dishwashers)
Covers: a year-round average of 670 covers per day…
Wine cellar: 60 listed wines, 30% Alsatian

Christian Etchebest, restaurateur

Christian Etchebest's cuisine is both generous and authentic - just like him. It's all a question of talent and enthusiasm.

"You can tell good cooking instantly from the quality of the products"

How did you become a chef?
To be absolutely honest, as a teenager, cooking didn't interest me any more than school did. What I really lived for was sport. It was my mother who decided I should be a chef. I enrolled at the Pau catering college when I was 14 and left with my CAP (trade proficiency certificate) three years later. My father then advised me to go "up" to Paris to really learn the trade. I started out at Le Père Claude, before joining the Crillon thanks to my "friend" Camdeborde, who already worked there. I went on to the Miramar in Biarritz, in 1993, later joining the team at Ibarboure in Bidart, still in the Basque Country, my native region! From there, I went on to work at Martinez in Cannes where I stayed for two years. I followed this by coming back to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, for a two-year spell as chef at the Grand Hôtel. By this time, I knew I had enough experience to open my own restaurant.

When did you open your own restaurant?
After all these years chefing for other people, I knew it was time to set up my own business. On 10 July 1998, after three weeks of major refurbishment work, I opened Le Troquet (21, rue François Bonvin Paris 15e). The restaurant originally belonged to an uncle of mine, but was no longer a going concern. I can thank Pacy, my charming wife, for helping me to get where I am now. The restaurant reflects the image and colours of my home region: red and white; above all, I wanted a warm and convivial setting. My restaurant's reputation is mainly built on its "province in Paris" image, its authentic cuisine and our excellent quality/price ratio that I always strive to maintain at its best. When I started out with my wife, we had two employees and served 45 covers per day. Today, I have a ten-strong team - evenly split between the dining room and kitchen - and we serve over 130 covers per day - 50 at lunch (average ticket - €38) and 80 for dinner (average ticket - €46).

What kind of cuisine do you propose?
I offer a traditional, regional cuisine with my own special touch, based on top-quality regional products mainly sourced in my home region, the Basque Country. Good cuisine should, above all, focus on simplicity and outstanding taste. When you love food, you love life - and the reverse is also true. My cuisine showcases my own particular enthusiasms as well as the products, i.e a generous and convivial and down-to-earth cuisine. A dish has to win me over, and get my taste buds going, before I will serve it. I showcase the products because I respect their quality. I have an all-abiding passion for food products and consider there is a certain sense of ethics involved. I prepare a bistrot-style cuisine designed to tempt customers' taste buds and leave them feeling content. This is why I only use seasonal produce.
My menu includes succulent milk-fed Pyrenean lamb, piperade, pan-fried Ibaïona rolled pork belly based on a recipe by my friend Louis Ospital, veal axoa - a traditional Basque speciality, Troquet-style semi-salted cod

 

prepared "à la biscayenne", pan-fried Saint-Jacques scallops, potato puree and truffles, Pyrenean cheeses and "chef's" desserts known for their simplicity such as roast baby pineapple served with a vanilla mousse and chocolate quenelles, rosemary-flavoured apple and pear compote and sorbet quenelle, vanilla-flavoured semolina with fig jam, along with a host of others. Our wine cellar boasts around fifty product references, a good third of which are from South-West France. This is my wife's private preserve.
My customer base includes business directors, professionals such as lawyers and architects, sports and television personalities and politicians, mainly at lunch, while the evening service is popular with a number of our regular customers and well-informed tourists looking to experience some genuine French cuisine.

What do you think about the new trends in cuisine?
We have seen some extraordinary developments over the last ten years. In my opinion however, we have opened up culinary horizons to such an extent that some people are doing just about anything. While I have enormous respect for Ferran Adria who has pushed back the boundaries by developing an avant garde and particularly inventive style of cuisine, I do have certain reservations about his imitators. I'm not criticising this new, destructured style of cuisine, but just saying it doesn't really inspire me personally. As far as I'm concerned, only one thing counts - the product! I am an unashamed all-out defender of products and their origins! You can tell good cooking instantly from the quality of the products.

What do you think about Rungis Market?
This market and the products you find there just knocks me out every time. It's fantastic to have a world class market like this right on Paris's doorstep. It's impossible not to be affected by seeing such a wealth of diverse, top-quality produce. I buy about 60% of my products there.

Background
Christian Etchebest (39 years old) was born in Pau; his father was a butcher and his mother a nurse. While his first love was sport, his mother, a cordon bleu cook, drove him to become a chef. His enthusiasm for cooking finally took root after his CAP, during the time spent working with chefs at some of France's top restaurants (see above). This unflagging enthusiasm is the driving force behind his, now considerable, reputation which is more than justified given the quality of his cuisine. Father of two boys, Peïo (Pierre) and Antixon (Antoine), this energetic and impulsive chef puts on his running boots and gets in some sport (marathon) whenever his restaurant leaves him the time.

Key figures
Staff:
10 (5 in the kitchen, 5 in the dining room)
Covers/day:
130 (50 at lunch, 80 at dinner)
Customer base:
Business Directors, lawyers, architects, sports and television personalities, politicians, regulars and tourists
Wine cellar:
50 product references (30% from South-West France)

Philippe Faure-Brac, restaurateur

Restaurateur designated the world's best wine steward in 1992, Philippe Faure-Brac takes the spirit of wine and the essence of haute-cuisine and concocts a magical blend.

"We have never before seen a wine offer of such quality and diversity…"

Where does your passion for the world of wine come from?
I first discovered and developed a passion for wine at the Sisteron catering college (Hautes-Alpes) where I completed my BEP (vocational proficiency certificate) and CAP (trade proficiency certificate) in cuisine. I was already interested in the association between wine and food, and what had initially been tributary to my training rapidly became my primary interest. I went on to complete a technical catering diploma in Grenoble, taking the option: dining room service and wine stewardship, followed by a higher technician's licence in restaurant management in Nice. At the same time, I was taking wine stewardship classes, graduating with a trade proficiency certificate. I was 20 years old and trained at various establishments in the South of France (Le Negresco in Nice, Hôtel Rostan in Donzère, etc.) and in Paris (L’Ecluse, La Brasserie Lorraine, etc.).

How does one become the world's best wine steward?
Being a wine steward is an unremitting passion practiced on a day-to-day basis. You also need a certain thoughtfulness and life ethic. In 1984, the date my restaurant opened, I won the competition for best young wine steward in France. In 1988, I won the competition for the best wine steward in France. I then decided to enrol in the competition for the world's best wine steward in 1992, which I also won. This competition consisted in three days of trials involving 35 candidates from 20 different countries. Apart from our knowledge of wine, we were also questioned about water, coffee, tea, cider, aperitifs, liqueurs, and so on. There were several blind tasting sessions, practical tests, a major public oral examination, sales arguments, corrections to be made to an incorrect wine list, and a decanting test, among others.
For the last three years I have been partnering a pair of Rhône Valley producers, "Domaine Duseigneur" (Bernard and Frédéric Duseigneur) in Laudun (Gard), who produce a Côtes du Rhône Villages Laudun of a remarkable quality.
We have never before seen a wine offer of such quality and diversity. The scope of offer is far greater than before as it includes an increasing number of excellent foreign wines. The wines are also much better worked.

What kind of cuisine do you propose?
At the age of twenty-four, I purchased a former snack bar, which became the Bistrot du Sommelier (97, Bd Haussmann – Paris 8e) following some renovation and refurbishment. Despite its name, it was a genuine wine bar serving restaurant food.
I based the cuisine on that of my grandmother who ran an auberge in Briançon (Hautes-Alpes), Les Trois Chamois, where I first discovered "real" products.
Here, I have sought to bring out the best in the wine-food association. I start with the wine and then imagine the dish that would go best with it. I offer traditional haute-cuisine - the style is classic rather than modern. We handle 90 covers a day (evenly divided between lunch

 

and dinner services) with an average ticket of €50 for lunch and €70 for dinner. Our flagship dishes are Dauphiné ravioli, lamb (saddle of lamb with Provence herbs, as a tapenade, confit shoulder of lamb, etc.), fish (red mullet, turbot, sole, pike, pike-perch, etc.) prepared by my chef, Jean-André Lallican, a native of Brittany.
The main menu changes every three months, while our 'tasting' menus change every day. In addition, we organise 'Wine-growers' Fridays' when we introduce diners to a particular wine grower.
I have a seven-strong team in the kitchen and eight in the dining room (including Gilles Bernard and Mona Khalife, wine steward). Half our dining-room staff are qualified wine stewards.
Our customer base (business people, politicians, media personalities from the world of literature and entertainment, foreign customers, etc.) all come because they are wine lovers seeking the thrill of tasting a special wine. In some ways Le Bistrot du Sommelier has become an institution.
We stock some 1,200 wine references (60% red, 40% white), mainly from France (80%) but also from other countries worldwide.

What do you think about Rungis Market?
I go to Rungis from time to time. It is a constant source of inspiration; we buy about 80% of our products there (fish, fruits and vegetables, flowers, meat, grocery products, etc.). We get our purchases delivered as we just don't have the time to go and collect them ourselves. This local market means we can always find excellent quality fresh produce from France and the world over. We should go to Rungis like we approach the grape gathering season, fired up with enthusiasm.

Background
Born in Marseille in 1960 to an accountant father, Philippe Faure-Brac boasts an impressive list of awards:
-1984, best young wine steward in France,
-1988, best wine steward in France,
-1992, best wine steward in the world.
He has also collected a number of distinctions:
Chevalier du Mérite agricole (1995) and Chevalier du Mérite National (2005).
Maître sommelier de France (UDSF),
Nef d’Or for enterprise 1996 (CCI Paris),
Best Award of Excellence (Wine Spectator),
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (2004, 2006, 2007).
He has authored several excellent books on wine (La cave Idéale, Le Livre de la Cave, Les Grands Vins du Siècle, Saveurs Complices des Vins et des Mets, Vins et Mets du Monde, Comment Goûter un Vin, to name just a few), several of which have received distinctions.
He is highly committed to his profession, acting in a number of positions:
- Founding president of the wine steward section of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition,
- France delegate to the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale, member of the international office,
- President of the Association des Sommeliers de Paris Ile de France (1995-2003),
- Member of the INAO national committee.
He is also working on (or has previously worked on) several articles for the specialised written press (Revue du Vin de France, Cuisinez Magazine) and audiovisual press (Radio BFM, France2, France3).

Key figures
Staff: 15
Covers: 90/day
Wine cellar: 1,200 product references

Michel Roth, Director of the Hôtel Ritz kitchens

Director of the Hôtel Ritz kitchens in Paris, Michel Roth belongs to the very select group of world famous chefs. Literally bursting with talent and enthusiasm, Michel Roth has made the prestigious palace in Place Vendôme into a jewel of French gastronomy...

"Rungis is THE world's most legendary food market due to the quality of its products and the tremendous know-how and expertise of the professionals who work there… "

How would you define the cuisine at the Ritz?
Generally speaking, the cuisine served in a palace is necessarily different to that served in an independent restaurant. This is even truer for the Ritz which was originally developed by the renowned French chef Auguste Escoffier, its first head chef, whose presence is still felt keenly here. We take his original recipes, and then rework them, adding a novel and personal touch. We offer a cuisine characterised by fresh flavours, both powerful and subtle, and eye-catching colours and shapes, a cuisine "dressed up to the nines"… in other words, classic French haute gastronomy.

What would you describe as the "Michel Roth" touch?
Above all, cuisine should be a treat in every sense of the word (including taste, sight, and smell). It should also be both traditional and modern, innovative and creative (Brittany lobster, cardamom and fresh almond vinaigrette/ pan-sautéed fillet of sole, Riviera-style baby vegetables / royal crab with Riviera-style mango and red onion / yellow chicken served with foie gras and spices, sweet and sour cherries), and more. I like to combine products and play around with certain flavours.
Innovating means constantly striving to create new dishes and give a new twist to established recipes. For the last six months, we have been offering a "monochrome" menu degustation (tasting menu) that is entirely red (table cloth, cutlery, wines and dishes: langoustine served with raspberry vinaigrette, fillets of red mullet and tomato petal tart, etc.) which has proved very popular; so popular in fact, that we have decided to put on a black&white "monochrome" menu for the end of the year.

So what is the average "Michel Roth" day like?
I arrive at 8 a.m. and greet the kitchen brigade (80 top-quality staff). It is absolutely essential to speak with every member of staff. Next, I check the arrivals, hold a briefing with my seconds, and then go to the kitchens with my assistants: Dominique Fonseca (MOF), Jean-François Girardin (MOF), Patrick Ramier (head banquet chef), Eddie Benghanem (head patisserie chef, assisted by Irina and Xavier Olivier), Thierry Michelet (head chef at the Espadon).
Towards 10.30 a.m., I hold a briefing with the catering chefs, and then proceed with the setting up and start of the midday service. This is generally fairly intense as the customers, both French and international, are always in a hurry. I take part in preparing and checking the dishes; a good chef should always keep a hands-on approach. Towards 3 p.m., once I have completed my round of the customers in the dining room, I go back down to the kitchens where I check the orders, go over the administrative follow-up with Sophia (the service manager), "test" new products and recipes, meet suppliers, and

 

prepare the menus for the 10.30 p.m. evening service. With its six outlets, the Ritz never stops, but then, that's the whole charm of our business.

Do you consider the future of gastronomy to lie in the new trend for molecular cuisine?
While it's important not to ignore new trends, we must, nevertheless, stay true to the roots of French gastronomy, a reflection of our national heritage, which I never cease to fight for.
Innovation does not mean leaving the past entirely behind. As for molecular cuisine, it's the word itself that I find most off-putting. Otherwise, I always keep an eye out for what's going on. I think that once the fashion for molecular cuisine, or "deconstructed" cuisine as it is otherwise known, has petered out people will come back to classic or modern cuisine, or even a fusion of the two. It is important to maintain the central core of haute gastronomy; we can then see it being used as the basis for a high-quality cuisine that is at once conceptual, original and modern.

What is your opinion of Rungis Market?
Eighty per cent of our products are sourced at Rungis Market, and all our suppliers work to our specifications. For us, the market provides the guaranteed security of a daily supply of a wide range of diverse, high-quality products. I used to go to Rungis frequently, and, even now I still go myself on occasions. Rungis is THE world's most legendary food market due to the quality of its products and the tremendous know-how and expertise of the professionals who work there… "

Profile
On the advice of his father who ran an open-air café in Hambach (Moselle), Michel Roth (48 years old) started work at the age of fifteen at Charles Herman, French master chef and owner of the La Charrue d’Or, in Sarreguemines. He obtained his CAP (trade proficiency certificate) in 1977 with the highest marks in the region, and went on to complete several professional training courses: l’Auberge de l’Ill, Le Crocodile.
He joined Ledoyen in 1979, working with Guy Legay, at the time 2nd assistant chef. Two years later, he followed Guy Legay, now the new director of the Ritz kitchens. In 1999, he joined the team at Lasserre. In 2001, he took over from Guy Legay (who had retired) at the Ritz, thus becoming the palace's 9th head chef.
By 2007, he already had a thirty-year career behind him!
Having learned the trade under Guy Legay and Paul Bocuse, he has an impressive list of awards to his name: prix Taittinger (1985), prix Escoffier (1986), Bocuse d’Or and MOF (1991), 4 stars in the Bottin Gourmand, 1 Michelin star (pending the 2nd and 3rd).
Honours: Chevalier du Mérite national, Officier du Mérite agricole, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, Palmes Académiques, Médaille d’Or de la Ville de Paris, Médaille Antonin Carême…
He is also a member of a huge number of academies, associations and guilds.

Gastronomy at the Ritz

Number of covers per day: 500
Number of dishes on offer: 300
Menu at the Espadon: 4 menus (that change with the seasons, including 1 lunch menu with 4 starters, 4 main dishes, 4 desserts, 1 tasting menu, 1 discovery menu, 1 vegetarian menu…).
Wine cellar (Jean-Claude Ruet, head wine steward): 30,000 bottles (including some very famous names).

Serge Barbey, Restaurateur - Paris (Ile-de-France)

 "For a restaurateur, Rungis is a permanent source of inspiration…"

Cordial, generous and attentive to the quality of the products he uses, Serge Barbey's restaurant, a favourite with enthusiasts of genuine French gastronomy, is a faithful reflection of his own image…
Serge Barbey, forty-seven years old, was born in Dôle (Jura) to a Burgundy winegrower. Following the end of his schooling, he joined his father in the vineyards for a spell before meeting Claude Verger who offered him a job at La Poste, a starred restaurant in Beaune (Côte d'Or), an appetiser that would set the course of his future career.
"After completing a 'CAP cuisine' and a 'Bac Pro' in Dijon, I joined Bernard Loiseau's team in Seaulieu (Côte d'Or). Next, I moved to Troisgros in Roanne (Loire) and then Lameloise in Chagny en Bourgogne (Saone-et-Loire) before finally arriving in Paris for the opening of La Barrière des Champs. I worked for a time with Guy Savoy, before moving on to the Petit Coin de la Bourse with Guy Gérard who taught me the genuine French cuisine that I prepare today