Frédéric ROBERT

Chef : 1 restaurant An outstanding technician, chef Frédéric Robert has been at the helm of La Grande Cascade, a beautiful Napoleon III pavilion in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, since 2007.

Presentation

"I've been in the business for forty years. At the level I'm at now, you have to be passionate about it", says Frédéric Robert, who nonetheless turned to the discipline without conviction. Thanks to an acquaintance, he enrolled at the Lycée Hôtelier in Rouen to train in the culinary arts. It was during his first practical work that something clicked. "I was lucky enough to be taught by Alban Perret, who worked on the France and introduced me to the techniques of Auguste Escoffier. Frédéric Robert finished third in his class.

Convinced he had made the right choice, he was hired as a commis at Club 13, Claude Lelouch's restaurant in the Hôtel Le Normandy Deauville. " His teacher convinced Jean-Paul Bonin, the chef at Le Crillon, to take him under his wing. The next day, the young chef arrived at the Gare Saint-Lazare with stars in his eyes.

After two years at Crillon, Frédéric Robert joined Le Grand Véfour in 1982, working alongside Raymond Oliver and then Jean-Paul Bonin. He left after three years as saucier chef. He then opened L'Ambroisie, place des Vosges, as sous-chef, working with Bernard Pacaud. He stayed there for six years, before taking his first steps at La Grande Cascade, with the aim of training for a restaurant with a larger capacity.

Disagreeing with the chef of the day, he moved to Claude Perrault's Le Vivarois. After the restaurant was sold, he wrote to Alain Senderens, who offered him a position as head chef at the legendary Lucas Carton. For nine years, he helped build the restaurant's reputation, but when Alain Senderens decided to turn it into a luxury brasserie, Frédéric Robert, approached by Bertrand and Georges Menut, decided to take over the reins of La Grande Cascade in 2007, this time as chef.

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