A green revolution is underway in French kitchens. Proof that the old order is already deeply destabilized: the most eminent ambassadors of this pro-vegetable movement are… young ambassadors. Manon Fleury (32 years old) is the most publicized of them: she concretized her commitment in a new establishment in the heart of Paris, Datil. But the regions are also in turmoil. HAS Nantes, Sarah Mainguy (29 years old) has just launched a crazy, virtuous and urban-country project. Perched on the roof of a car park opposite the station, its restaurant, Freia, slides into a green greenhouse, surrounded by beds of aromatic herbs. A snub to the gray of cities and all-car use.
This gourmet nest wants to free itself from the rules still in place in most large establishments. There is no longer any question of denying the seasons or going too far in search of exotic sweets, it is from the arrivals of local producers that the dishes of the week are improvised. There is no longer any question of stuffing yourself with animal proteins, plant-based proteins are taking over. Goodbye, finally, the very military hierarchy of the brigades: the leaders share power.
Sarah Mainguy, tired of being summed up by her career in “Top Chef” – the show for which she was a finalist in 2021 –, imagined a unique menu in this hilltop restaurant, centered on the vegetable garden, very copious (eight courses) , sophisticated and expensive (120 euros, like at Datil). For the cook who trained in small places (Holybelly, Le Mary Celeste, in Paris) and who remains the owner of the Nantes dining cellar Vacarme, where dishes cost around 15 euros, it is a personal and professional.
To access your new restaurant, you must enter a parking lot, then climb to the roof, to the sixth floor, by elevator or stairs. That’s not common…
That’s what attracted me! I didn’t want to launch a new adventure in an expected place, identical to the others, in the city center. I first thought of taking over an old chapel. Then the Nantes town hall, which seeks to restore atypical places, offered me this space. With my partner, Damien Crémois, co-founder of Freia, we fell in love with this roof from where we can see the sun falling over the station at the end of the day. We could make it a place connected to nature and at the same time ultra-urban.
Isn’t there a paradox in offering vegetable cuisine in a parking lot? Why not settle directly in the countryside?
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