Top chef has returned to service on Wednesday February 10, 2021 and it's like finding his favorite pair of television charentaise. Even after 12 seasons, the culinary soap opera manages to keep us awake past midnight. A challenge and a frankly promising cast.
Top chef, here we go. For this season 12, we take the same ones and start over: Michel Sarran, Hélène Darroze, Paul Pairet, Philippe Etchebest and “Oui chef!” virile resonating on the kitchen table. Only three women among the candidates this year, it is not yet this season that will see gender equality triumph. We are delighted all the same to meet a host of profiles ranging from the most annoying to the most endearing, for a test carried out drum beating until midnight (to believe that M6 forgot that the confinement was over and that some must work the Thursday morning).
Did you crack before the end or you just want to relive this first episode of Top Chef, season 12? Here is the full-bodied and 100% subjective recap, candidate by candidate.
Matias, it annoys or it passes
If cooking was a start-up, Matias would have disrupted it as quickly as he managed to tire us out, with his list of awards and his concept of “27-year-olds restaurant” who check each other out and give each other something “ Yes daddy! ” between two crayfish-matcha. Tonight, with his Jura recipe (yellow wine, walnuts, curry and a good dose of ego), he manages to tease the interest of Philippe Etchebest. It must be said that on the plate, the result is square and pleasant. The candidate, frankly not. Let's count on the MOF to put the hat back on him.
Jarvis Scott, type grolles
A real man, not because he's tattooed, but because he lets his fragility speak for itself. No shame in evoking his faults in Jarvis Scott (a birth “by accident”, parents who do not believe in him). As he is sensitive, Hélène Darroze (# CuisineFéminine) likes it. As he smokes his dish with hay, Michel Sarran (#terroir) likes it. Obviously, we do not smell the hay – twelve seasons but the guys are still testing – and JS ends up as a last chance with his cowboy boots which slip, to struggle on the theme of the carrot. A passage flush with the buttocks later, he will be without brigade for the rest of the competition. But not alone against all, because despite his pump (s), we are wholeheartedly with him.
Baptiste, the man who talked about it too much
He thought he was on Spinning Roundabout (“heart to take”) and mixes his brushes when it comes to talking (shame about doing TV). His slip of the “creme branlée” already has its place in the blooper of New Year's Eve 2021. If his flirtatious side which deflates and his badly cooked cigars have the gift of annoying Philippe Etchebest, when his kitchen finally speaks, it works, despite the use of Jerusalem artichoke, this vegetable that smells of socks and Vichy France. Result, Baptiste passes hands down, but we will have to stop the dabs very, very quickly.
Mohamed, RER A direction the stars
Top Chef talks about food but also about gloomy social realities, such as the racism in the kitchen which destined Mohamed to "make the floor" because he "is only an Arab". First tears of the season in front of his parents, quickly wiped up to give way to a chatter that immediately makes him sympathetic. His “splash tatin” has a hell of a face in addition to a perfectly marketed name, but not enough to fit into a brigade. Good for us, it allows us to attend a catch-up session where epic expressions are linked ("I send in washing machine mode"). In the end, it's won at Darroze. .
Chloe, skill without dressage
Not enough qualifiers to express our affection for Chloe. It is true, and that is moreover why it was pushed towards the competition by the frank of the collar Adrien Cachot, finalist of Top Chef 2020. And then his cooking is anti-waste but not boring, since it is all about textures and tastes. Above all, Chloé promises 100% stressful sequences the way we like them because she has, by her own admission and as her sand pie dessert unmolded by a drunken child proves, no talent for dressage. No suspense, however, that Hélène Darroze, his new boss, will take him to great heights.
Arnaud, the ego
Arnaud, we have to talk. OK, you've seen it all, done everything, "there are tastes, there are juices," but those denim shorts, it's no, and the expression "it kicks". Caricature of the mascu candidate who talks too much and tires everyone with his tics of language (“We will say”), we prefer when he cooks his lionfish in silence. Phew, he is less proud with his three red cards and finds himself catching up. Except that it is the better to bury ourselves in hellish expressions ("my buttocks slamming" = our laziness is total). It still works thanks to a carrot meal, not the worst of what Arnaud has served us tonight.
Thomas, street pie
New York, Perpignan, same fight for Thomas. The link between his city of birth and his home port since he was 15? Creativity, the Catalan city being also trendy street art and graffiti of all kinds. In the plates of Thomas, ex-street artist, we therefore find color in a mess and a “pumkin pie” (pumpkin pie) which gives a hard time to blue-white-red Philippe Etchebest (“How does he say? Peumgkingpah? "). The result remains there: lively and original like the Franco-American redhead, embarked by Michel Sarran (the blood, always there to represent the south).
Yohei, the chief from the east
We also feel the production at ease with the Japanese candidate Michel Sarran facing a mochi. We skip over the awkward soundtrack of vaguely Asian music to talk directly about his last chance. The chief confesses there “Not to be a carrot fan” and then leave on a dish made with carrot tops (#concept). A shiny plate but lacking in relief, too bad because Yohei's smile would have changed some of our heads to slaps (Arnaud, we are talking about you).
Matthieu, a Brussels resident who has potatoes
New emotional streak when this candidate explains that the kitchen saved him, while the school did nothing but sink him. His chubby face should not deceive anyone: sous-chef in a two Michelin star in his native Belgium, Mathieu has the fangs one would plant well in his round duck fat fries. On the other hand, we wouldn't have bet a kopeck on its mussel juice, but its risk-taking pays off as much as its freshness. And let's go to the brigade in Phiphi!
Sarah, Sarah not strong
His tattoos: a pretzel and a hen's paw. But the real kamoulox is Philippe Echebest who sings AC / DC while choreographing Staying Alive (Sarah loves music and the Basque conductor too). Less rock, the young woman's passion for flowers and her 100% leek dish (eh?). Disturbed when she remarks that well, weird idea anyway, Sarah could be inspired by these male candidates less talented than her but far more arrogant (Arnaud, we always talk about you). After “Kick ass”, she comes out of her leek recipe from above, directly in Hélène Darroze's squad.
Pierre, it rolls
A bit there by chance, happy to be there, Pierre is "happy". We're happy for him, but that's not enough to make a good reality TV candidate. If the boy lacks roughness, his kitchen is full of it, thanks to a passage through Barcelona, London and Bangkok. Result: the four chefs are fighting it out, especially since its Pad Thai has a beautiful mouth as much as the taste (tamarind, chili, lemon zest). It is well done, to the point that Michel Sarran and Paul Pairet are fighting for his pretty face. And it’s Pairet who wins, despite the fact that he wears the worst shirt in history with extra pockets.
Pauline, the technician a bit crazy
Sous-chef in a Parisian star, the candidate is a supercharged control-freak who doesn't do things halfway with her shepherd's pie with chimichurri sauce. Barely two hundred and fifty preparations launched, Hélène Darroze bet on her, but the rest of the jury freaks out in front of her overflowing ambition. It is ultimately the last chance and a disappointment not to have been selected by the Landes chef. Its pretty “Beloved spicy carrot” All the same, not only Sarran chefs but also Pairet, whom she chooses to join. Come on Pauline, now we'll have to take a breather (but not on the plate, Wednesday is a pandemic).
Bruno, I stammer your pardon?
Sometimes Bruno loses his words. The overflow of emotions, he explains, and that played tricks on him as a kid. Touching, introverted, he keeps the exuberance for the plate, trying the unstructured butter ham. This is how we tease the curiosity of Paul Pairet. Able to get out of a hassle of puffed apples that won't blow (the bastards), he is spoiled for choice when it comes to intermediate votes. A little less when his sandwich arrives damaged. Michel Sarran embarked anyway, confirming his status as preferred juror.
Adrien, when it doesn't want to …
Revenge is a dish that could have been eaten cold. The young Adrien, eliminated by Philippe Etchebest during the Top Chef objective six years ago, returns and he has eaten lion. Finally, the lion cub, since he pays himself three reds and one yellow in the intermediate votes. Enough to keep the niac and try to win a place with a flowery ratatouille, but a little tight this time again, even after the last chance. See you in 2027?