Frédéric BARETTE

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

School didn't like me, and I didn't like it back," says Frédéric Barette. So my mother pushed me into the kitchens of the Relais du Château, a renowned restaurant in Rambouillet." The teenager entered the Lycée Hôtelier in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. At just 14, thanks to a dispensation from the Yvelines prefect, the very young commis worked for Daniel Ballester in La Feuilleraie until the age of 19. He crossed the Channel to New Milton, England. At Chewton Glen, he mastered English as well as the knife, but eventually returned to France.

After six years working alongside Benjamin Delpierre at La Liégeoise in Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais), he joined Robert Bardot in 1995 at La Porte de Gand in Lille. "In my opinion, this MOF remains a monument to gastronomy. It was simple and efficient, but very exhausting." After giving his all to assist him for two years, Frédéric Barette, then aged 30, took a break and devoted himself to rugby. "I worked in the summer, so I could play in the winter, at Touquet-Étaples Rugby Club, in the honorary division."

At 37, as his body began to tire, the chef returned to his first love. In 2009, after a succession of odd jobs, he walked through the front door of Les Coulisses Vintage restaurant in Paris. As chef, he made a name for himself, with the likes of François Hollande and François Pinault at his table. For five years, he received rave reviews, with guidebooks hailing his mastery of classics such as pot-au-feu and blanquette.

Despite his success, Frédéric Barette sought peace and freedom. "I wanted to open my own restaurant. The only bank that agreed to go with me was in Amiens, on condition that I set up in the town. That suited me just fine." In 2014, the entrepreneur inaugurated Les Orfèvres there. "At first, it wasn't easy. In culinary terms, the town has no history or tradition. I also made a mistake: I was trying to pander to the desires of the locals, but very quickly I realized that, to please a wider clientele, I had to please myself above all else. As a result, every year I have a Corsican customer who visits me to taste my Pithiviers!" Focusing on sauces, Frédéric Barette's bourgeois cuisine tinged with modernity immediately earned him 2 toques and the Innovation Hauts-de-France 2018 trophy. The chef hopes his son will take up the torch with as much passion!

B. G.