Jean-François PECH
Chef : 1 restaurant Jean-François Pech is the man behind a restaurant, Au Fil de l'Eau, which he opened in Montauban in the late 1980s and has run ever since.
The son of bakers based in the small town of Belpech, Aude, Jean-François Pech remembers that he first wanted to follow in the footsteps of his mother, a pastry chef. "But I also loved cooking, which naturally led me to attend the Carcassonne hotel school to learn the basics of the trade. "
Once he'dobtained his CAP and BEP diplomas, Jean-François Pech briefly considered crossing the Atlantic - "the American dream", he laughs - but the project fell through. Hethen settled in Briançon for five years with his partner, and the couple found this former cabaret. "The equipment was in very good condition.We liked it and didn't hesitate for long.We opened in 1988. "
Daniel Barabas joins him in the adventure
A few years and a divorce later, Jean-François Pech was joined by one of his great friends, Daniel Barabas, to whom he offered to run the venue. "Daniel joined me in 1993, so we've been working together for over thirty years now, and I think we still have just as much energy. My cuisine, which may have been considered outdated or cheesy for a time, is coming back into fashion. I added a cassoulet to my menu about ten years ago, and it was an instant success. I give it time to simmer, respecting the codes I learned from my grandmother and at my first job in Quillan, where we still worked with coal-fired ovens.To make a good cassoulet, you obviously need good products, but you also need time, which is essential." A consistency and commitment that Gault&Millau rewardswith the Tradition d'Aujourd'hui Occitanie 2025trophy.
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