David TOUTAIN

Chef : Restaurant David Toutain A child of the Normandy countryside trained by Alain Passard and Marc Veyrat, David Toutain has served plant-driven, globe-trotting cuisine at Restaurant David Toutain (4 toques), rue Surcouf in Paris, since 2013.

Presentation

Marc Veyrat has seen several hundred young people pass through his kitchens. A few stood out for their talent, their eagerness to learn and their capacity for work: David Toutain is one of them. Born in 1981 in Flers, in the Orne, and raised close to the family farm, he discovered herbs, flowers and roots very early on, before entering the kitchen almost by chance.

From Passard to Aduriz, an extraordinary apprenticeship

Vocational diploma in hand, he started out at Le Manoir du Lys in Bagnoles-de-l’Orne with Franck Quinton, then worked with Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu and at La Bourride in Caen. Three intense years followed at L’Arpège with Alain Passard, then in the midst of his vegetable revolution. Pierre Gagnaire, Bernard Pacaud, Marc Veyrat once again, who speaks of him as his spiritual son, then a Spanish period alongside Andoni Luis Aduriz at Mugaritz and a stint at Corton in New York completed his training. In 2011, he opened Agapé Substance in Paris, a small event on the gastronomic scene.

Rue Surcouf, a plant-driven, globe-trotting world

At the end of 2013, he settled on rue Surcouf in the 7th arrondissement, opening Restaurant David Toutain (4 toques). In a setting of pale oak and light, facing the open kitchen, he creates nature-inspired cuisine, from Orne producers to garden herbs, with pairings as unexpected as they are obvious, from lobster with fir to veal with meadowsweet. Between Marc Veyrat’s Savoie and the Japan that so attracts him, he composes one of the most imaginative cuisines in Paris. Since 2022, he has also led the menu at Feuille in Hong Kong.