Julien NORAY

Pastry Chef : 1 restaurant Trained as a chemical engineer and a finalist in Objectif Top Chef, Julien Noray has swapped test tubes for pastry cases. At Iodé in Vannes, he has established himself as one of Brittany's most creative pastry chefs.

Presentation

" Julien Noray's patisseries are large in scale and characterized by consistently memorable dressings ". This is how our investigators described the work of the man who, in addition to being the pastry chef of the excellent Sophie Reigner, is also the manager of the restaurant where this highly complementary duo offers one of the region's most singular and exciting cuisines.

From chemistry to patisserie, there's just one step

A native of Toulouse until the age of 25, Julien Noray embarked first on an STL baccalaureate, then a BTS in chemistry, and, instead of taking the plunge into working life, was admitted to an engineering school on the strength of his excellent record. " I finished top of my class in the BTS," he explains. Passionate about cooking, he was spotted by the studio that was then producing Objectif Top Chef and finished second in the 2014 edition. " Everything followed very quickly for me. I got my engineering degree, but I preferred to join Jean-Baptiste Ascione's brigade, then at Kube in Paris, then Alan Geaam 's at AG Les Halles ".

Five years at Alan Geaam's side before Vannes

Now in 2016, this competition enthusiast has thrown himself wholeheartedly into pastry-making. " After a few months working alongside Alan, he asked me to join him on Rue Lauriston, where he was opening his new restaurant in place ofAkrame Benallal 's. I was to stay on as chef for almost five years. I stayed on as chef for almost five years before joining Sophie, whom I had met on Facebook, in her restaurant Iodé, in Vannes ". He and Sophie may not be of the same generation, but they share the same vision of cuisine.

A pragmatic artist at Iodé

An admirer of the work of Nina Métayer and Jessica Préalpato, and an avid consumer of social networks " which make it easy to discover what my colleagues are up to and, why not, to sometimes draw inspiration from their work ", Julien Noray chose to work at Iodé.julien Noray has chosen to reshape Iodé's offering since taking over as manager, simplifying weekday lunch offerings to better meet customer expectations. An artist, certainly, but also a pragmatist.