Claire ANTONINI

Chef de service : 1 restaurant Claire Antonini, a trained chef, opened the L'Évidence restaurant in Romilly-sur-Andelle with Alexis Bennis. After a varied career, she has adapted to her new role by taking charge of the dining room, where she is now fully at ease. Her warm welcome earned her the Accueil 2024 award in Normandy.

Presentation

Even though she now runs the restaurant she opened with her partner Alexis Bennis on her own, Claire Antonini is a trained chef. My parents aren't restaurateurs," she explains.I'm the only one in the family to work in this field. When I was young, I loved cooking, but I wasn't really keen on studying, so it was quite natural for me to enroll at the Decrétot hotel school in Louviers, in the Eure region."

Working in the dining room, not an obvious choice

The young woman obtained a Bac Pro, then a BTS. She did an internship at the Grand Hôtel in Cabourg, then at the Eden in Houlgate (where she met Alexis), before settling down for three years in Lyons-la-Forêt, at the Licorne Royale. "I learned a lot from Christophe Poirier, the chef. I was chef de partie at the gastronomic restaurant, where we offered classic, carefully prepared cuisine. Then Covid came along, I got pregnant and, with Alexis, who was then working at La Cascade Insolite in Le Vaudreuil, we decided to set up on our own."

A pizzeria was for sale in Romilly-sur-Andelle, not far from their home. After renovations, the couple opened L'Évidence in July 2021. "Alexis is alone in the kitchen, and I swore I'd never work in the dining room, but now I'm in charge of 38 covers. But I'm blossoming, my customers are delighted, and we've found a balance that suits us perfectly." The young woman is so comfortable in this role that we awarded her the Accueil 2024 trophy for the Normandy region.