Why do some chefs choose to open micro-tables?

Micro-counters. Pocket restaurants. Pocket restaurants. There are many ways of naming all these addresses, all of which have made the same choice: to serve only a limited number of covers. Depending on the situation, this can mean a dozen or even just a few tables. The approach is highly personalized. Very often, the chefs brandish the card of ultra-proximity with the customer, if we are to believe the toques interviewed by Gault&Millau. Most of them plan to welcome guests in the same comfort as a living room or private kitchen.

The restaurant then takes on a whole new concept, in which service takes its rightful place, and not just in the preparation of the plates. We take a look at a new generation of addresses that have found ways to add another dimension to the gastronomic experience, while offering a solution to the recruitment problem in the restaurant business.

L'Auberge de la Grive in Trosly-Loire

Since last summer, when they sold their gastronomic restaurant Nature and their bistro RG in Armentières, Nicolas and Cécilia Gautier have devoted themselves 100% to their micro-table at the Auberge de la Grive. And it's not about money, quite the opposite. " Today, we're ten times more profitable serving twelve covers than forty at Nature ," explains the chef. He goes on to explain, " and yet we produce the same cuisine, the same menus and our prices are identical, except for an increase in raw materials which has followed the curve of inflation ".

The reason? Diners observe each other, exchange ideas, and let themselves be tempted when one of them chooses to have extra cheese, a coffee... " I've never sold so many digestifs since I've been a restaurateur " says Nicolas Gautier. at the Auberge de la Grive, at the end of the meal, you can order a champagne ratafia served by the pipette. The effect is enticing, and can make the whole table want to follow suit. Ultra-personalization has the advantage of responding immediately to requests, or even anticipating them, whereas in a forty-cover restaurant, customers have to wait for the waiter to become available. So there's no frustration, other than getting a seat, especially if you want to dine on a Friday or Saturday. That's the " price " to pay for dining opposite the chefs, on the Gautier family's personal table, which they also use to satisfy young and old on days when the restaurant is closed.

nina Cléton

Restaurant Double in Paris

In the capital's 18ᵉ arrondissement, Tsuyoshi Yamakawa doesn't just surprise with a cuisine blending two influences that one would imagine would be foreign to each other. Of course, it's not without pleasure that the cards get shuffled in the evening, when it's time for risotto, a typically Italian recipe served with a Japanese sauce. It makes you wonder if the opposite isn't true. This former member of the Saturne restaurant dedicates his score to a setting as raw as his kitchen. The taste buds don't wander, thanks to a setting focused on the chef's stoves, who officiates just behind a counter that doubles as a table for just twelve diners.

Mas les Eydins in Bonnieux

In the Lubéron, Alexandra and Christophe Bacquié welcome you as if you were at home. " Following our departure from the Hotel du Castellet, we really wanted to open our own place ," says the enthusiastic chef, who waited several years to find the right address for their project. The idea was to serve only 20 covers in summer (around 20 in winter), and to organize an aperitif shared by all guests, before serving a single menu. we've done away with the "coup de feu", except for sending out the 28 plates at the same time," illustrates Christophe Bacquié, according to whom this new logistical approach brings serenity to the team and greater proximity to customers.

On the plate, there's a change too, since by limiting the number of covers, the Meilleur Ouvrier de France no longer needs to acquire a minimum quantity for a given product. " There's no need to force yourself to find fifty red mullet! "he says. In complete contrast to his previous experience, this new chapter in the great chef's career " freed him from a work context ", who wanted to " get back to the basics of his business ". " Our profession is undergoing profound change, and I'm convinced that our project is fully in line with this evolution, and that we'll continue to move in that direction, even if there will always be great houses " concludes Christophe Bacquié.

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Restaurant Sylvestre Wahid (Les Grandes Alpes Hotel 1850) in Courchevel

The confidential experience takes on its full meaning here. When it comes to ultra-intimate gourmet dining, the former chef of Thoumieux in Paris knows what he's talking about. In 2021, he's taking Courchevel by storm with a concept that's as audacious as it is dizzying: a restaurant serving just four tables, all of which open onto a kitchen where six cooks are busy. " At the time of Covid-19, when all the restaurants were closing, I realized that we needed to reinvent the gastronomic restaurant by integrating an exclusive experience, while not forgetting the sanitary aspect to reassure customers. Remember the barrier gestures! At the time, we were in a state of paranoia ," he recalls. It was a concept that Sylvestre Wahid would have liked to implement at home, in St-Rémy-de-Provence, but the luxury hotel Les Grandes Alpes came calling. " It's an establishment with expertise in the hotel business, but less so in gastronomy. So I proposed my project to them ," explains Sylvestre Wahid.

This drastic limit on the number of covers makes sense on two levels. Firstly, from a human resources point of view. firstly, from a human resources point of view: " In this way, we can only pay our employees better, while they can provide quality work ", he assures us. The chef, who likes to describe himself as a " modern innkeeper ", is also faced with the reality of his customers' many dietary restrictions. " These are diverse and require a real ability to adapt, inevitably committing us to personalizing each plate " analyzes the man who is preparing several projects for 2025.

romane Marchio

Us in Megève

In the Alps, too, people aspire to welcome guests in the warmth of a personal salon. Like Julien Gatillon's. In the wake of the health crisis, the chef decided to invite gourmets to his own chalet. Helped by his wife Sonia Torland, Julien Gatillon welcomes them " as if at home " around a counter seating a maximum of twelve. The result is personalized attention for each customer. Just as at Christophe Bacquié's Mas des Eydins, guests go down to the cellar to choose a keel and share a moment of gastronomy outside the traditional codes.