Jean-Yves COLLIER

Chef : 1 restaurant Chef Jean-Yves Collier has always been loyal to the Relais Charlemagne in Samoussy, where he has distilled his talents for over twenty-five years.

Presentation

"I've always loved cooking, especially with my mother," says Jean-Yves Collier. To make a career out of it, the teenager took his CAP (vocational training certificate) in cooking in Laon. Just a few kilometers away, the apprentice sharpened his first knives at the Relais Charlemagne in Samoussy. Owner Jean-Pierre Evra took him under his wing. Proud of his protégé, he decided to hire him. Without realizing it, they signed a contract for over twenty years!

Appointed chef in 2019, Jean-Yves Collier has remained loyal to the establishment for all these years. "I've always felt good here, so why change?Like most of my colleagues, I could have tried my luck in Paris, rubbing shoulders with master chefs, but I have no regrets." In this pretty house, he defends French bourgeois gastronomy, in the rules of the art, a timeless traditional cuisine haloed by 2 toques. "I add a few touches of modernity, but only lightly. Our customers, mainly locals, come here for the classics: a medallion of veal sweetbreads with morel mushrooms or a back of turbot with champagne sauce." Rest assured. At the Relais Charlemagne, change is not for tomorrow, and that's just as well!

B.G.