MY VOCATION

I’M A DEMANDING AND JOYFUL LEARNER

My first work placement was at La Petite Maison in Cucuron, thanks to the help and advice of my father. It was an ideal choice: a small, demanding, Michelin-starred establishment. I learnt a lot from Éric Sapet, a great chef.
The following summer, I continued to work at home, helping out in the kitchen left and right.
The following year, I did two work placements. The first was at the Hôtel Métropole in Monaco, in Joël Robuchon’s two-star restaurant, run by Christophe Cussac. I was really impressed by the huge kitchen.
I went through all the cooking and pastry-making positions. What’s more, I discovered Japanese cuisine in one of the hotel’s other restaurants.

Next stop was the Relais Bernard Loiseau, a three-star establishment where I had the joy of working in a real family spirit. Madame Loiseau is a great lady of the restaurant business.
In my final year, I was one of those lucky enough to go to England to a restaurant in Uckfield, and I fell in love with the country. So when I had my professional bac in my pocket, I told my parents that I wanted to go back. I ended up at Michel and Alain Roux’s Waterside Inn. Here again, I was lucky enough to find a real family spirit. And in this beautiful hotel-restaurant, I learnt to speak English naturally. After a year in the kitchen, I wanted to try my hand at working in the dining room, which was run by one of the best maîtres d’hôtel in the world, Monsieur Diego. I started as a hostess and then, as a Christmas present, I was promoted to demi-chef de rang. I loved this service work and learned a lot. Before returning to France, I even spent two weeks in a room with the housekeeper. I now know how to check a room, prepare it for a VIP…
I really had a complete tour of this house. And I was able to bring my new acquaintances back to La Bonne Étape.

I’M SETTLING IN AT HOME WITH MY FATHER

When I got home, I felt a bit homesick for England, and even thought about going to Japan. But I decided to stay. Working in the kitchen with my father, we started talking about recipes,including recipes to take away during the Covid-19 health crisis. That period further strengthened our bond. Then he ruptured a quadriceps tendon and I was thrown straight into the deep end. I had to manage everything, not just the cooking. I was stressed at first, but the team really supported me. When my father came back, he said, “If you’re feeling good, we’ll carry on like this. So I kept my new role in the kitchen and now we create the menus together.

MY WAY OF LEARNING

As my father says: ‘You can’t learn a trade, you have to steal it’.
You have to know how to pick up on things, how to look at things. As well as the gestures I’m taught, I’m curious, I look at other people’s gestures and what’s going on elsewhere in the kitchen.
Every evening, for years now, I’ve been writing down in a notebook everything I’ve done during the day, what I’ve learnt, what I’ve tried, what worked well and what didn’t. I’ve now got between fifteen and twenty recipes. I now have between fifteen and twenty notebooks.

And when I see the members of the team taking photos in the kitchen, I say to them, “If you want to remember, draw the dish. It’ll make a better impression on your memory than the machine!