Bertrand GRÉBAUT

Chef : 3 restaurants Bertrand Grébaut, chef of the famous neobistrot Septime and other addresses in Paris and the Perche region, is one of those who have reinvented French gastronomy.

Presentation

Born in Paris in 1981, Bertrand Grébaut grew up in an environment where a taste for good things ran in the family. After passing his baccalaureate in literature, the young man studied graphic arts, and began working in this field.

By early 2004, he was already beginning to have real doubts about his career choice. His colleague naturally advised him to change direction, and he applied for a preparatory course at Ferrandi: "It wasa time when cooking was not at all fashionable. One interview later, his new career began. He graduated top of his class.

In 2006, after initial experiences at Marius et Janette and La Table de Joël Robuchon (with Frédéric Simonin), the course ended with an internship at L'Arpège, with Alain Passard, who eventually hired him as chef de partie. At the time, Bertrand Grébaut had a fairly academic view of the profession. His experience at L'Arpège gave him a new sensibility: "I also discovered a cuisine that was very open to plant-based ingredients.

Buoyed by the idea of seeing something different, he helped open a bistro with a friend, before joining Laurent Lapaire's new restaurant, l'Agapé. He takes on the role of chef, assisted by Katsuaki Okiyama. The restaurant quickly earned its first toques, thanks to "simple, readable, rhythmic cuisine".

Two years later, for Bertrand Grébaut, "themost important thing is to do very good food in a nice place". With this in mind, he decided to travel around Asia for a few months with his partner. On his return to France in 2011, the 30-year-old opened Septime, accompanied by Théophile Pourriat. Success was immediate. Year on year, the offer is refined, the experience consolidated, and other projects are born. In 2013, La Cave opens its doors, just before Clamato .

In 2018, a new project is born: D'une Île, in the Perche regional nature park. During the confinement, the team spends time there with Valentin and Fanny, who respectively become executive chef of Septime and pastry chef of Tapisserie, a place dedicated to sweetness inaugurated in 2021. A second one will open on the Left Bank in 2022, marking the apogee of a chef whose career is still full of promise.

T.L.