Céline Pham, from ring to piano

Watching her, with her head tilted ever so slightly over her shoulder, finalize the preparation of a plate, precise and meticulous without ever falling into mannerism, and then hearing her speak in an even, almost whispered voice, without ever falling into posturing, it's impossible to identify her as a fighter.It's impossible to identify her as a fighter, impossible to imagine her wearing boxing gloves two hours before the gun goes off. Impossible to perceive in this chapel converted into Inari - the table she opened in Arles two years ago - that Céline Pham is a fighter who had to confront, assert herself and still does. And that her fatal weapon has been sport. Sports, whatever they may be, without limits, and this is perhaps the first thing she has in common with her cooking. " It all started with my father and brothers. Getting involved in sport and taking an interest in what interested them was a way of spending more time with them. "Soccer holds no secrets for her. And then there were the sports from the USA. " This was no doubt a way for my parents, who had arrived from Vietnam, to maintain a link with their history. Their plan was to transit through France, then join the family already settled in the United States. "So it was basketball, which she played for a long time, and athletics. " But it was when I started in the kitchen, where everything is collective, that I became more involved in individual sports. "Running, indoor cycling, CrossFit... To cope with the stress, she would go three times a week, then every day and, finally, " when nothing was going well in the brigade ", several times a day. " Sport had become an addiction. "

She moved from one table to the next, from Ze Kitchen Galerie to Saturne, then Septime, before embarking, free and determined, on a culinary nomadism that suits her well - that suits her better, above all. She goes from event to event and from residency to residency, without stopping or abandoning the field or the venue. " As soon as I arrived somewhere, I'd start looking for places to train - that's how I got into cycling in New York. "In residence in the summer of 2017 at Providence, in Guéthary, she negotiated surfing lessons with a coach into her contract. " I'd never done one, I started from scratch on a foam board, like the kids; I had the time - three months. Every day, we went to a different spot, Anglet, Biarritz, in Spain, in the Landes... Quickly, very quickly, I got a sensation. Then it became an obsession. I told myself I'd been right. And at the end of the summer residency, I signed up for another residency, this time in winter, just for the surf. "Sport became such an obsession that " a few hours before a very important event in Paris, I ran a half-marathon! "To surpass myself, to surpass myself, to fight myself. And for the pleasure of playing, but never really to win. She needs to evacuate. Evacuate stress, evacuate the rage that sometimes gnaws at her. Sports have become her outlet. It's also a way of " working on my mental state, especially when I'm overwhelmed by doubt, when I have to face a rough patch ".

Then came the time to settle down. This will be in Arles, discovered in the wake of a recently inaugurated residency at Uma. It won't always be easy. Sport? No time, no real desire. Moving on to another cycle, perhaps? Not sure. Because the mechanics are the same. " In sport, as in cooking, you can only progress by performing the same gestures over and over again. It's repetition that makes a good sportsman and a good cook; I train in my kitchen as I would on the pitch. "He adds: " Inari is a real long-distance race, because you start in March and finish at the end of October. You have to go the distance, given the size of the terrace and the kitchen, and the heatwave... It's very, very physical. So the real sport comes a bit later. For the moment, as she admits she's thinking of taking up kitesurfing - " There's a crazy spot, Bouduc, right next door " - and horse-riding - "the Camargue, of course! " It doesn't really matter which sport she takes up, what counts is the adrenalin, the challenge, the sense of effort, the achievement. " It's strange because, today, I see what I do with my little brigade as a real team sport, where, in the dining room as in the kitchen, we really rely on each other. One day, I'd like to take them to a real sports ground, like a soccer pitch... I've even thought about the jerseys! "Three in the kitchen, four in the dining room, and an apprentice - enough to set up a solid five-a-side soccer team!

This article is taken from Gault&Millau magazine #5. If you don't want to miss any future issues, subscribe now.