The adventure of Frenchman Maxime Roullier, who returned from the Parisian palaces to the family restaurant in the countryside, with the desire to do well and pass on the noble savoir-faire of classic cuisine.
The news
The downshifting of chefs had already started quite a while ago: that irrepressible impulse to escape the media spotlight and tortures of permanent judgment, earn some free time and play soccer with their young children before they graduate from high school. It's called "voluntary simplicity," and in this glimpse of post covid it has been intertwined with major resignations, with destabilizing outcomes for the sector.
The latest case is that of Maxime Roullier, who nonchalantly moved from Parisian palaces to the restaurant his parents opened some 15 years ago in the French countryside, Saint Paul of Préfailles. Maxime worked for nine years in starred establishments, beginning with his two-year apprenticeship at La Mare aux Oiseaux with Eric Guerin, who more than a master chef, became a second father for the chef. It was he who dissuaded him from returning to base immediately, putting him instead in touch with the George V, where he joined chefs Eric Briffard and Christian Le Squer and met his wife Johanna Fillang, an apprentice and winner of the Jeunes Talents Escoffier competition in 2017.
Along with her four years ago, he decided to take over the family restaurant, introducing gradual innovations in the restaurant's gastronomic offerings and style. He calls it a "current cuisine, designed from fresh, local and high-quality products, with a mix of three markers, a little bit of Mediterranean, a little bit of Asia, a little bit of revisited traditional French cuisine." Such as the lamb ravioli with Asian spices, Sardinian pasta with bisque, and even sea bass in a puff pastry crust.
Filetto Wellington
For her part, Johanna has turned the dining room into the stage for a professionalism that is now rare: at the guéridon she minces the meats and sporulates the sea bass, touching on the nostalgia of times and tables that seemed lost. Skills that the young couple intends in turn to pass on to those who are even younger: they host one apprentice at the time in the kitchen, so that they can offer a well-rounded education, to different types of food service and in every station.
Source: Le Courrier du Pays de Retz
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