Félix ROBERT

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

"When I was a child, I looked after my parents' vegetable garden. It was growing vegetables and plants that gave me a taste for cooking", says Félix Robert. In 2011, he met Nidta, his wife, at the Lycée Hôtelier in Le Touquet. The couple then joined the brigade at La Grenouillère, in La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil (Pas-de-Calais). "It was a real springboard. Chef Alexandre Gauthier took us under his wing, and we were his two most loyal collaborators at the time," he explains.

In 2017, he flew to Tokyo, Japan, to become chef de partie at the Ryugin restaurant."I wanted to give myself a little slap in the face in terms of products and technique," explains Félix Robert. A year later, back in France, he joined Maison Troisgros in Ouches (Loire). He was head of the fish section, then saucier, while Nidta worked in the dining room. "It brought a bit of maturity to our career and to our project," says the chef.

The couple, who wanted to open their own restaurant, found a former textile factory in Croix, near Lille. Thus, in 2022, Arborescence was born. Right from the start, Gault&Millau had him in its sights! He received the Dotation pour les Jeunes Talents (2022), which helped him open the restaurant. A few months later, Félix Robert naturally joined the "109" selection and was awarded the Gault&Millau Jeune Talent trophy. "We're amazed that everything has gone so quickly - we've only been open four months. We're delighted that our work has been recognized by a guide like Gault&Millau", he enthuses.

I. B.