By showing the Primard estate, Romain Meder frowns. We admire the imposing 18th century residencee which was for a long time that of Catherine Deneuve, the boxwood trimmed with a line, the rosebushes playing climbers on trees as high as buildings in this 40-hectare park which borders the Eure in Guainville (Eure-et-Loir). He straightens the cutlery on a table in Les Chemins, his freshly starred gastronomic establishment, and inspects his brasserie, Octave, placed just next door. Further on, he methodically extinguishes the lights on in broad daylight in the rooms of the hotel. And, having arrived in his vegetable garden, begins by putting in the shade crates of peas abandoned in the bite of the sun.
Chubby groves, sun-drenched orchards, fields covering the horizon… The maddening nature of the estate is a source of concern for the chef (the drought is also rife here) and inspiration. “Tonight, I’m going to try using Sichuan pepper leaf to season the peas, he confides. And make a rose kombucha. » Romain Meder has gone green. But, with his feet in the ground, this 44-year-old gentle giant retains the same rigor and creativity as when he still officiated at the Plaza Athénée, in Paris, two years ago. The three-star was then the ambitious flagship of the establishments of his mentor, Alain Ducasse. Before a shutdown and a landing that forced him to take side roads. His new wanderings, an hour by train from Parisian gourmet gilding, in a village where no one knew his name, could look like a downgrade. It’s just the opposite. The new logical, bucolic chapter of a long-term culinary odyssey.
This Franc-Comtois, son of a nurse and a horticulturist, grew up in Neurey-lès-la-Demie (Haute-Saône), a town of 300 inhabitants near Vesoul. Hardly had his butcher’s certificate in his pocket, he flew to Martinique where he did his military service by managing the grub of officers. Thanks to the top-of-the-range caterer Potel et Chabot, he continues to jump borders – presidential meal in Beirut, Tsar’s Ball in Saint Petersburg… – for oversized events. Before joining Alain Ducasse in 2006, a decisive encounter. The boss soon sends him to oversee the restaurant at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. “There, I learned to work with cereals, millet, sorghum, and legumes with nutritionists to fight against junk food”he recalls.
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