“A Campari soda will do me good, it will remind me of my holidays in Italy”, says Louise Bourrat, one damp evening, leaving her soaked suitcase on wheels in a corner of the bar at the Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers, in Paris. When she takes off her black hat and coat, revealing brown hair crossed by a platinum lock and a colorful shirt, no one in the room seems to recognize her. However, between February and June 2022, more than 2 million viewers watched her progress, each week, in the “Top Chef” competition, until victory.
But who remembers the winners of “Top Chef”? With the exception of Jean Imbert, who has made a career outside of the small screen and who is no longer associated with the show so much, most of them do not attract attention beyond a few months. . And Louise Bourrat, 28 years, could well know the same fate: at the helm of a restaurant in Lisbon, she is not very present in the media or on social networks.
“I know that now is the time to show that I exist on Insta, post a photo of me or a mushroom. But I don’t necessarily have the timejustifies the chef in her deep, clear voice which is easy to listen to, often punctuated by bursts of laughter. “And then, when I have some, I don’t want to do that. I prefer to see my friends, my family, being idle. »
Portuguese and Lyon heritage
In 2022, precisely, she ran out of time, overwhelmed by the “Top Chef” wave and, in the process, the record attendance of her Lisbon address Boubou’s, managed by her brother. She has not yet touched the 56,190 euros received from M6, which she wants “do something useful, good, and good for the collective”. She breaks off: “Uh, I have a train for Lyon around 8 p.m. You tell me when I have to leave for the station? » Alright, but to take on the role of mistress of the clocks, we want to know the exact train schedule. “Oh, I don’t know, around 8 p.m.”sweeps Louise Bourrat, taking a sip of Campari.
She intends to quench her “thirst to learn” by perfecting her skills with three-star chefs Hélène Darroze and Dominique Crenn.
If time doesn’t worry her, maybe it’s because she clearly knows where she’s going. In the near future, she intends to quench her “thirst to learn” by improving with the three-star chefs Hélène Darroze and Dominique Crenn, whom we met on “Top Chef”. Then, produce a book highlighting women in the kitchen, the profits of which will finance intimate hygiene products for precarious women. “You have to aim for something that can change things. » And then, one day, she will open her own restaurant. “A unique gastronomic experience”where she will explore the feeling of nostalgia, where the environment and the peasants will be at the heart of the reflection. “That’s all I want to do in life: a restaurant where I can have fun and that makes sense, almost political”she said, finally grabbing a mouth-watering kalamata olive from the bowl that had been sitting on the table for a while.
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