Benoît CHICOT

Chef : La Toile de Lin After training under Chef David Goerne at the Manoir de Rétival, Normandy-born chef Benoît Chicot opened the restaurant La Toile de Lin in Doudeville in 2024 with his wife, Margaux Loisel.

Presentation

Benoît Chicot is a native of the region. Born in Rouen, he attended the Canteleu Hotel School, in the suburbs of the Norman capital, before beginning a work-study vocational diploma program at the Manoir de Rétival in Caudebec-en-Caux (now Rives-en-Seine), under German chef David Goerne. “ We hit it off right away, and the chef quickly gave me responsibilities—so much so that I dropped out of school to get hired at the Manoir.”

A Culinary Tour of Europe

The young apprentice chef also worked in the dining room to get a taste of all aspects of the restaurant business, and he remained on the banks of the Seine for nearly ten years before getting the opportunity to open his own fine-dining restaurant. “My wife, Margaux Loisel-Chicot — whom I’d met at the Manoir de Rétival— and I fell in love with this place at first sight. It was a project we’d been mulling over for some time, and it came to fruition in 2024, after a short tour of Europe that we took together to discover other culinary traditions.”

A new menu every two months, a maximum of 30 seats, a loyal base of regulars, and cuisine full of meaning and freshness: for the past two years, the young couple running La Toile de Lin has proven that it’s still possible to open a charming restaurant in Normandy without unlimited resources or an impressive résumé.