Women chefs, the new guard

They are young, talented, and bring a refreshing breath of fresh air to French gastronomy that is still too often dominated by men. Meeting with four visionary chefs.

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Alice Tuyet, the gentle revolution

In another life, Alice was a classical dancer. She followed a sports studies course at the Paris Opera until the age of 15, before branching off to HEC and Sciences-Po, and starting her career in digital marketing. But her passion for food quickly caught up with her.
When this young woman, granddaughter of a Vietnamese restaurateur, became vegetarian at the age of 25 (she is 33 today), it was the click, an obvious fact that would come to fruition a few years later: open a vegan but gourmet restaurant.

Make Vegetables Sexy

At Faubourg Daimant, you won’t eat meat, eggs, fish or other animal products, but the dishes are so delicious and generous that you probably won’t even notice it. , and that you sauce your plate twice rather than once. “The sauces are the emotions of the dishes, they embody for me the hedonistic French art of living, the antithesis of an often clinical plant culture. The chefs with whom I work come from haute cuisine and bring a lot of technicality and precision to the dishes that I imagine. We don’t want to give lessons, just offer good cooking. » Like its already essential “pig croquettes” and their ravigote sauce, comforting and addictive, which perfectly embody this nod to the classics of French cuisine. The 250 daily reservations are also there to attest to this great success. Faubourg Daimant is not Alice’s first stroke of brilliance. The self-taught cook opened Plan D in 2021, her first address where she (and her partner Christian Störi) offer a range of vegan sandwiches which continues to be a hit today. And she is already preparing what comes next, with, in addition to a recipe book planned for the end of the year, an expansion project in several provincial towns, and why not abroad. “Our ambition is to become the leading plant-based catering group in the world. ” Quite simply.

Faubourg Daimant

Faubourg Daimant

Faubourg Daimant
20, rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, Paris-10th.
07 88 09 73 48.

daimant.co

Broccoli guacamole

Broccoli guacamole

Discover the recipe for Broccoli Guacamole

Aurora Storari, another idea of ​​pastry

Aurora Storari, another idea of ​​pastry

She is hyper curious like others are hyperactive. The young thirty-year-old, in charge of desserts at Hémicycle, the address that she runs as a duo with her partner Flavio Lucarini, is keen on the idea of ​​further shaking up the codes of pastry. Because it was not the passion for cakes that fueled the vocation of this jack-of-all-trades tastemaker…

His next challenge: a “dessert dining”

“My favorite activity when I was a kid? Accompanying my grandmother to the butcher! It was my candy store,” laughs this Roman native. Raised in various countries to follow her parents, she immediately knew how to adapt, mixing genres and cultures. And be independent. To the point of daring to do his first cooking internship at the age of 20, in France, in Mauro Colagreco’s brigade at Mirazur. A hard learning experience that she continued in London, Ghent or Paris. “I learned that the more difficult it was, the more
it was up to me to know how to manage. Especially in this very masculine, very physical environment, where you have to fight when you’re a girl to assert yourself without losing your sensitivity. That’s why we often direct girls towards pastry making, even though I loved all aspects of this profession, including sommelier. » His mentor, Gianluca Fusto, who revolutionized Italian pastry by working with many vegetables, showed him that by relying on techniques, you can use all products and have fun. “I’m very curious, I go in all directions. Pastry helps me to codify and frame my creativity. I know that in restaurants, dessert is not “necessary”. It comes extra, so it has to be something a little cuddly, that hugs you and refreshes you. Both a shock and a caress. » Like his Jerusalem artichoke soufflé, pear and fir terrine, brown butter ice cream.
Exploding. With a “taste of too little”. So in a few months, Aurora will inaugurate a “dessert dining” concept upstairs. There you will taste a succession of creations where, depending on the season, celery, peas, seaweed jam, basmati ice cream or whey will be on the front of the plate. Haste ? U.S. too !

Aurora Storari Hemicycle

Aurora Storari Hemicycle

Hemicycle

5, rue de Bourgogne, Paris-7th.
01 40 62 98 04.

hemicycle.paris

Candied apple terrine, herb tempura, tarragon sabayon

Candied apple terrine, herb tempura, tarragon sabayon

Discover the recipe for Candied Apple Terrine, Herb Tempura, Tarragon Sabayon

Camille Guérin, the quiet strength

Camille Guérin, the quiet strength

Before opening her first restaurant, the aptly named À Table!, last September, Camille Guérin worked hard. On his CV, several major houses, such as the Ritz in Paris, or La Réserve, an illustrious Michelin star on the Côte d’Azur. If she learned the rigor of palaces and quickly gained autonomy, the young woman also discovered a competitive environment, where management was dry and kindness was too often rare. But without her really being aware of it, these past experiences will slowly lay the foundations for her future… “Whatever brigade I was in, there was always something wrong: the lack of recognition, the pressure from the hierarchy… I was never completely fulfilled. When I made the decision to open my own restaurant, suddenly my sky cleared up. »

A tailor-made address

Camille already has a precise idea in mind: a place on a human scale (her establishment currently has 30 seats), where local and seasonal products are given pride of place, producers are properly remunerated, and where the well-being of employees (just like his) are the focus. While the personnel crisis is still ongoing in the restaurant industry, Camille has had no difficulty in recruiting qualified people, delighted not to work on weekends and to be able to benefit from seven weeks of leave. per year (instead of five). The young chef has also designed menus at affordable prices (lunch menu at €29, gourmet menu at €49 in the evening), and does not hesitate to take a welcome step aside with “slightly eccentric” proposals from her own admission: “At the moment, I am offering a starter based on Jerusalem artichokes, egg and coffee. I also really like using tea, in a caramel, or a condiment with prunes. » There’s only one thing left for you to do: go to the table!

At table ! by Camille Guérin

At table !  by Camille Guérin

At table !

28, rue du Général-Bertrand, Paris-7th.
01 47 34 30 26.

atable-restaurant.fr

Hake, carrot mousseline with ginger, orange endive and sorrel sauce

Hake, carrot mousseline with ginger, orange endive and sorrel sauce

Discover the recipe for Hake, carrot mousseline with ginger, orange endive and sorrel sauce

Sarah Mainguy, the urban innkeeper who will make noise

Sarah Mainguy, the urban innkeeper who will make noise

Since the summer of 2019, the one that the general public discovered in season 12 of “Top Chef” has been running the neobistrot Vacarme in Nantes, with her companion Damien Crémois. “We didn’t see each other anywhere else. It’s at the mouth of everything: the sea and freshwater fish, superb organic market gardeners, the Nantes cow…” Enough to feed his ultra-creativity. Because although her family has always eaten well, Sarah first saw cooking as a way to express herself.

Cooking must be a reassuring shock

After completing a literary and artistic baccalaureate, she applied for both architecture and culinary schools. “Accepted at Ferrandi, I saw a sign there. And I kept the sketches to design my dishes,” she smiles. To start, she deliberately avoids gourmet restaurants. At HolyBelly, then at Mary Celeste, one known for its breakfasts
and the other for her cocktails, she finds this modern vision, this more human, more participatory management, which she applies today at Vacarme: “An offbeat bistro where people allow themselves to be at ease. »
On the plate, Sarah enjoys interchanging products and recipes, like the famous buckwheat waffle with bone marrow, or this anise meringue, celery stick marmalade, fresh goat’s cheese and syrup watercress. “Cooking must be a reassuring shock. Me, when I am given a plate without markings, I am lost. It doesn’t create any emotion in me. So I take the products out of their context, I highlight with sliced ​​sauces, anchovy milk, smoked, fermented…” Because she feels a little cramped in her 9 m2 kitchen, she will open mid-February a second address perched on a roof terrace facing Nantes station. There, between sky and city, between transparent greenhouse and garden
perched, she will inaugurate her urban inn with her market gardener accomplice Alice Ménard. Her name ? Freia, the goddess of fertility in Scandinavian mythology. “The foster mother side speaks to me. The warrior side of the Valkyries too: to be a woman today, you have to know how to fight. » Bringing nature, plants and eco-responsibility back to the city is precisely his current fight.

Restaurant Freia by Sarah Mainguy

Restaurant Freia by Sarah Mainguy

Uproar

5, rue des Bons-Français, 44000 Nantes.
09 87 34 18 82.

vacarme-nantes.com

Freia

22, boulevard de Berlin, 44000 Nantes.
Opening in February.

Arugula and crispy kale flan

Arugula and crispy kale flan

Discover the recipe for Arugula and Crispy Kale Flan

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