The Michelin guide rewarded this Monday in Starsbourg, the work, the passion and the talent of the best chefs in France by designating the new stars, four of which are from the Languedoc region. If Jordan Yuste, Georginia Viou and the Bonano brothers win a first star, the Lozère chef Cyril Attrazic continues his ascent and obtains a second.
Sète: Jordan Yuste, chef at the top of “L’arrivage”
Jordan Yuste still doesn’t really realize he just got a star. “I knew that we were doing avant-garde cuisine but we didn’t have the codes and the standing of the great gourmet restaurants”, he says, before repeating: “I am very happy, really very happy”. The self-taught chef, who worked for Top Chef, offers a sincere, modern and very Mediterranean cuisine, with simple products sublimated thanks to a fine technical mastery. “The sea is 250 m from the restaurant, as the crow flies. We have an exceptional iodized terroir. It would be silly to deprive ourselves of what it offers us”. As a result, the chef cooks exclusively with products from the Mediterranean and the Thau basin. “You won’t find salmon or cod at my place. And then I’m in a very short circuit logic. So all this seems coherent to me.” As he wants to be “accessible to as many people as possible”, Jordan Yuste offers an unbeatable menu at 39 euros for lunch and 69 euros in the evening and the price of which he does not intend to increase. The only problem is that you will have to wait to sit down in his restaurant which has 16 seats. Obtaining his star has exploded requests: nearly 500 reservations are pending!
The arrival, 13-15 Rue André Portes, Sète. Lunch menu: €39. Evening menu: €69. From Thursday to Saturday noon and from Tuesday to Saturday evening. www.restaurant-larrivage.com
Nîmes: Georgiana Viou, “Red”, a chef with character
“We have everything to have a star”, confided a few weeks ago Georgiana Viou to Midi Libre. This is today done. “I don’t come from this seraglio. I thought it was cool to find myself with lots of chefs and until the last moment I said to myself why me and why not others”, said the chef moved. de Rouge on Monday in Strasbourg during the awards ceremony. The one who started with the MasterChef show in 2010, then did a training, successively opened two establishments in Marseille before being at the pianos of the restaurant of the Margaret hotel in Nîmes. She offers “a cuisine with strong Mediterranean accents”, with products and sometimes techniques from Benin. “But I don’t cook Beninese cuisine”, she insists. a philosophy of short circuits and as close as possible to the seasons. At Rouge, one award can hide another, since the pastry chef François Josse, who joined the house last year, won the Passion dessert prize, instituted two years ago by the Michelin guide.
Margareth-Hôtel Chouleur, restaurants Rouge (€85, €130) and Gigi, 6, rue Fresque, Nîmes. Only in the evening from Tuesday to Saturday. 04 48 27 08 01. www.margaret-hotelchouleur.com
These tables always recommendable
The Lantern
The head of Fanal in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Pascal Borrell has taken the hit but he remains optimistic and wants to win back the star next year.
Its restaurant is of course still a very recommendable address where Catalan cuisine is refined and where anchovies and Catalan cream are nicely revisited.
Hervé Busset’s table
Impossible to keep the star since Hervé Busset sold the Conques mill and embarked on a new adventure in Rodez (24, place du Bourg). See you at the beginning of June to taste the chef’s creative, very refined and vegetal cuisine and discover his new Ruthenian gastronomic setting.
The prayer
The Priory in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon could not keep its star because it has just changed heads. After the departure of Marc Fontanne, Christophe Chiavola (photo) is at the pianos. The Guide’s inspectors will certainly come to taste his cuisine and give their verdict for the next edition, in 2024. The chef intends to recover the star with a cuisine that is both “daring, personal and very refined”.
Its stars at the Hameau des Baux then at the Château de Massillan augur well. However, you will have to wait until May 13, the date of the reopening, to taste the dishes of Christophe Chiavola.
Colombières-sur-Orb: The Bonano brothers, “Granit”: the shocking duo
Predictions of stars, the Bonano brothers have been harvesting them in spades in recent months, on social networks and from their customers. Benjamin and Clément won the precious sesame last Monday in Strasbourg. “It’s a great pleasure and a great pride. We have taken the trouble to be where we are today. It’s a team success. We will continue to move forward. C It’s so good, it’s great!” exclaims Clément, who is in the kitchen while Benjamin is the sommelier. “Working together permanently is a strength”, says Clément, and a tremendous creative emulation. Their refined table is both very local and open to the world. Clément, who worked in London and for 7 years at L’Auberge de Combes, knows how to tease the palate with delicate flavors and ultra-stylish dishes. Benjamin, passed by Le Jardin des sens, La Cabro d’or, the Ritz in Paris, the Four seasons in Hong Kong has acquired an international knowledge of wine. He thus delivers two very interesting food and wine pairing menu proposals: “Terra Occitania” or “Globe trotter”. As you will have understood, one is very rooted in the territory, the other is more of a traveler.
Granit, The mechanics of the Bonano brothers, Place called La Mécanique Sainte-Colombe, Colombières-sur-Orb. €65 and €115. From Thursday to Sunday, noon and evening. 04 67 97 30 52. www.lamecaniquedesfreresbonano.fr
Cyril Attrazic: “It legitimizes our choices and our work”
After a Bib for his brasserie a month ago, the Lozère chef won a second star for his eponymous restaurant in Aumont-Aubrac.
How did you hear the news?
We had been invited for a few weeks already without knowing if we would get a second star and we found out live on the day of the ceremony.
What was your reaction to the announcement of this second star?
Even if it’s true that the press had spoken of us a few weeks before as one of the candidates, we were still surprised. One is happy. Very happy ! It’s a great satisfaction but after that it’s true that it’s been three, four years since we made certain choices to be able to take our cuisine to where we wanted to take it.
What were those choices?
We worked on a different work philosophy with slightly more marked orientations. For example, today we raise twenty oxen a year. They are fattened by respecting a balanced diet. As a result, we have a cuisine that focuses on beef because here, in Aubrac, consumers have a relationship of trust with the animal that is incredible. We are working on this choice when the trend is more towards vegetable cuisine.
This second star rewards these choices. It makes us say that we are going in the right direction.
Why this choice ?
Because it is our territory. Meat is often discriminated against but when you do things while respecting the environment, nature, it works. The danger is excess, one way or the other.
What will this second star change?
Absolutely nothing will change. On the contrary, it will reinforce this journey and that’s all. It legitimizes our daily work.
Will the prices change?
I haven’t yet asked myself the question of whether prices should change. The first thing we think about is coping with, assuming and strengthening our teams in particular. Afterwards, we are a company, the economic & model must work. If we have to put a little more payroll, we will change the prices accordingly. We will be just as we have been for 25 years that we have been doing this job.
Does this second star put additional pressure on you?
We have the pressure every day. We are concerned that our guests leave satisfied. Certainly people will come from further afield. We’re going to have to show even more kindness. We will progress as we try to do every day.
The Michelin is always the Holy Grail after all?
They are the only ones who will eat at everyone’s house the same year. They are the only ones to have an accurate reading of the gastronomic landscape.
