When couples start cooking: episode 2

They said yes to gastronomy. Yes, to cooking together behind the same piano. While the restaurant has long been a couple's project, with the wife usually in charge of wine service and dining room management, and the husband in the kitchen, a new generation of restaurateurs is rethinking the allocation of roles, relying more on their complicity to sign a sincere and singular culinary score. Here are five couples sharing kitchen duties.

At Il Carpaccio Hôtel Royal Monceau Raffles, Oliver Piras and Alessandra de Favero

"I couldn't imagine cooking without Oliver," confesses Alessandra Del Favero with much love and admiration. Arriving at the Royal Monceau in September 2021, the Italian chef from the Dolomites doesn't see her career in solo mode. "When the palace recruited us, it was a package deal," jokes the chef from Il Carpaccio (2 toques). For Alessandra Del Favero, cooking together is an advantage. And the benefits also extend to married life. "It would be difficult to maintain a relationship with someone you only see for a few hours," she concedes. Oliver Piras and Alessandra Del Favero met in 2010 when they were both working at the Da Vittorio gourmet restaurant near Bergamo. The duo found their balance between professional life and personal project even before arriving in France. At the time, he was cooking at the Aga restaurant in San Vito di Cadore, and together they were simmering the desire to forge an experience abroad...

• Where? 37 avenue Hoche 75008 Paris 8
• www.leroyalmonceau.com

Roméo Belancourt

At Château de Vault-de-Lugny, Franco Bowanee and Karina Laval

She is our Pâtissière de l'Année 2023 in our Burgundy-Franche-Comté guide. But Karina Laval isn't the only one behind the success of the restaurant at Château de Vault de Lugny (2 toques), in the Yonne region. There's also the executive chef. And it's not just anyone. Franco Bowanee is her husband. Both Mauritians, they met in the kitchens of the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, a prestigious establishment in Port-Louis. The couple's love affair simmered as they each honed their skills in their respective culinary disciplines. In 2006, Karina Laval and Franco Bowanee flew together to Washington, D.C., to strengthen their professional experience at the InterContinental Hotel The Willard. Now settled in Burgundy, the two lovebirds are committed to working with French products, while adding Mauritian touches to maintain a link with their native island.

• Where? 11 rue du Château 89200 Vault-de-Lugny
• www.lugny.fr

Christophe Gilles

Au Théodore, Tabata and Ludovic Mey

Together, they are writing Lyon's new gastronomic history. First there was the gourmet restaurant Les Apothicaires in 2016, where the young Top Chef semi-finalist and her husband decided to bring together the flavors of their respective childhoods in a single kitchen. She's from Rio de Janeiro. He's from Savoie. Lyonnais at heart and by adoption, both are skilfully involved in revamping the culinary reputation of the capital of the Gauls. We remember the titanic work undertaken by the couple to transform the former Vieux Lyon hotel-restaurant, the Tour Rose, into a successful food court. It took no less than three years to resurrect this emblematic building, which pays homage to Lyon's traboules, the famous pedestrian passageways through the buildings. With Les Apothicaires now closed, Ludovic and Tabata Mey embarked on a new project, still mixing professional ambitions with personal aspirations, by taking over the brasserie Le Théodore (1 toque). An institution created over twenty years ago by Robert Peret, it will reopen next October as a gourmet restaurant, where the duo will take over. A brasserie will follow, offering traditional French fare in the Mey family style.

Nicolas Villon

At DE:JA, David Degoursy and Jeanne Sartori

In unison, David Degoursy and Jeanne Satori are shaping the world of tomorrow's gastronomy, nourished by local produce, labeled with ecological labels, and using a variety of fermentation techniques. Both look to the future through the prism of an ecological conscience. She has a degree in Ecology, he in Literature. Together, they have decided to unite their vision on the same plates. The message can only be more intense. But this is not the only thing the couple have in common. They learned and grew up together behind the stove, accepting the humility imposed by the vast amount of knowledge they had to acquire before becoming recognized chefs. They passed their CAP (vocational training certificate) in cooking, and at the same time discovered all the jobs involved in running a restaurant, under the guidance of chef Yannick Germain at the auberge au bœuf in Sessenheim (3 toques). And it's with the same spontaneity and freshness that contribute to their youth that they've had the audacity to open, again together, their first restaurant in the heart of Strasbourg in October 2021.

• Where? 1 rue Schimper 67000 Strasbourg
• www.deja-restaurant.com

DR

At L'Essentiel, Charles Thuillant and Mi-Ra Kim

Like attracts like. In Deauville, the adage takes the form of a tasty tale of love and cuisine. Back in 2010, we spotted the talent of Charles Thuillant and Mi-Ra Kim, honoring them with our Trophée Jeune Talent. Under their chef's hats, the duo have more than one similarity. While their origins differ - Mi-Ra Kim is from Seoul and Charles Thuillant from Paris - both decided to change career paths, embarking on a project to retrain in the restaurant business at the age of 28. He with a diploma from Ferrandi, she with a diploma from Le Cordon Bleu. The couple met at William Ledeuil's Ze Kitchen Galerie (3 toques). They then forged their professional experience, neither too far nor too close: they joined the Joël Robuchon empire. Mi-Ra Kim cooks at L'Atelier and Charles Thuillant at La Table de Joël Robuchon. Their joint professional project finally took shape in Normandy in 2008, when they decided to run their first four-handed kitchen at L'Essentiel (2 toques).

• Where? 29 rue Mirabeau 14800 Deauville
• www.lessentieldeauville.com