International
Justine BELLOT
Just 25 years old, Justine Bellot already has a busy life ahead of her. The young winner of the Pâtissier Normandie 2024 trophy acquired her taste for cooking at home, with her family. "Sundays were sacred. We'd spend the morning with my parents and sister cooking. And I've always loved pastry-making."
"I went to school in Bordeaux, while working at the Café de la Paix in Paris. There, I learned a lot from the chefs I worked with at the time, Guillaume Vincheneux, Reda Chenouf, Dominique Costa and Sophie de Bernardi. The amount of work was colossal, but it was very rewarding."
Justine Bellot had dreamed of joining Jessica Préalpato's team at the Plaza Athénée, but in the end she joined Jean-François Piège's team at the Grand Restaurant. "It was thanks to Frédéric Vardon, the chef at 39V, where I stayed for three years, that I was able to get in. Unfortunately, three months later, the Covid-19 pandemic began."
Her personal life was then complicated, but she took advantage of her moments of freedom to learn bread-making at Thierry Marx's in Beaugrenelle, before returning to her parents' home in Honfleur to heal her bruised soul. "All this plunged me into a deep depression, but I quickly considered setting up my own business, setting up a lab at my parents' home and going to the markets to offer my pastries. Then I heard that premises were for sale on the harbor in Honfleur. I was young, but my business case was solid and, in June 2022, I opened Lunic on rue Montpensier. For the first few weeks, I slept three hours a night!"
Her pastries are magnificent, the breads, brioches and viennoiseries perfect, and Justine is now surrounded by two apprentices. "Today, I feel fulfilled, and I have a nice clientele of regulars." A just reward for this talented young woman.
F. T.
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