(Communicated)
Alexandre Couillon, chef of the restaurant “La Marine” in Noirmoutier (west), celebrates his third star, during the Michelin guide ceremony in Strasbourg (east), March 6, 2023 (AFP / PATRICK HERTZOG)
Three stars for a “story that was written together”: Alexandre Couillon, chef of the restaurant “La Marine” in Noirmoutier (Vendée), was distinguished on Monday by the Michelin guide in a selection which sees the emergence of a new map of France gastronomy.
This 47-year-old chef, born in Dakar (Senegal), is the only one to be promoted to the highest gastronomic distinction in the 2023 edition of the Guide, bringing the number of triple-starred to 29 (compared to 31 last year). , after the demotions of Guy Savoy and Christopher Coutanceau as well as the closure at the end of 2022 of Christophe Bacquié’s restaurant.
“It’s our star”, declared Alexandre Couillon, pointing to his wife Céline, who officiates in the room and accompanied him on the stage of the Palais des Congrès in Strasbourg, where 500 French chefs and 20 European chefs were present, out of 1,500 people. . A first.
“It’s a big surprise for us. It’s a story of two,” he told AFP.
Alexandre Couillon succeeds chefs Arnaud Donckele in Paris and Dimitri Droisneau in Cassis (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Crowned “cook of the year” by Gault et Millau in 2016, he received his first Michelin star in 2007, then a second six years later.
– 37 tables in the region –
Nestled on the tip of the island of Noirmoutier, “La Marine”, initially a seasonal family restaurant, was taken over in 1999 by Alexandre Couillon and his wife.
In a few years, they have turned it into a gastronomic table serving local products: the fish comes directly from the port located in front of the restaurant and the vegetables come from the chef’s vegetable garden.
“Every day, we tell a new story, we cook with the best products of the moment,” he explains to AFP.
Alexandre Couillon, chef of the restaurant “La Marine” in Noirmoutier (west), celebrates his third star, during the Michelin guide ceremony in Strasbourg (east), March 6, 2023 (AFP / PATRICK HERTZOG)
“+La Marine+” is “the perfect illustration of what a table is that is worth the trip because not only do you have to go to an island but, once on the island, you have to go to the tip of the island,” Guide boss Gwendal Poullennec told AFP.
In total, the 2023 vintage has 44 promotions. Of this figure, 39 new addresses were awarded their first star (compared to 41 last year) and four new restaurants were awarded two stars.
The salt of this edition is in one figure: 37 of the promoted are tables in the region, as opposed to Ile-de-France.
“Gastronomic France is no longer the diagonal of the East, remarks Mr. Poullennec. We see that there are establishments everywhere and that even the Hauts-de-France are seeing more and more projects hatch. It has never been clearer than in this selection.”
Two regions are particularly awarded: the Pays de Loire, with five one-star promotions, and the Hauts-de-France, with four promoted restaurants, including one with two stars. Among them, Christophe Dufossé at the Château de Beaulieu, in Pas-de-Calais, who also won a green star.
– Still few women –
The boss of the Michelin Guide, Gwendal Poullennec, in Strasbourg on March 6, 2023 (AFP / PATRICK HERTZOG)
An edition that also gives pride of place to young chefs, including the Belgian Mallory Gabsi, revealed by the show Top Chef, who won, at 26, his first star for his Parisian restaurant, as well as the prize for young chef.
“A total surprise (…) It’s the teamwork that pays off. It makes everyone happy!”
Like last year, when four women were among the 49 promotions, few are present in the list.
Georgiana Viou, from the “Rouge” table (Nîmes), wins her first star. Very moved, the chef of Beninese origin stressed on stage that she was “not from the seraglio”.
Other women were rewarded with their companion, such as Camille Pailleau with her spouse Diego Delbecq (Rozo) in Marcq-en-Baroeul (North). Or the couple David Degoursy and Jeanne Satori, both 25, who won their first star and a green star with their Strasbourg restaurant De:ja.
The Michelin 2023 red guide for France, March 2, 2023 in Paris (AFP/Archives/JOEL SAGET)
Questioned by AFP, the boss of the guide recalls that the star does not only go to the chefs but to the restaurant and that the women are present, especially in the dining room.
Note that eight new tables are promoted green stars, compared to six last year for their eco-responsible approach.
Earlier in the ceremony, the Head of State Emmanuel Macron promised, in a video address, to “do everything so that those who work, feed France, who get up early, who commit (.. .) be accompanied when there are difficult times”.
© 2023 AFP
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