Manuel Penas Galego & Josef DRIGÉ

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

Nothing predestined Manuel Penas Galego and Josef Drigé to meet. Born in Galicia (Spain), Manuel Penas Galego initially turned to sculpture and the plastic arts, while Josef Drigé, originally from Val-d'Oise, began his training as a charcuterie-caterer. After a few months at the Vino e Gusto restaurant in Rennes, Manuel moved to Argentina to work in a butchery and rotisserie, while Josef moved to Spain to discover local products.

Finally, it was in 2017, at Globule Rouge (Brest), that they met. " We knew right away that we wanted to start a restaurant. We both wanted to create and innovate, because we weren't formatted by techniques and chefs," recalls Josef Drigé.

Then, in 2018, the future partners once again took different paths. Manuel left for Canada to discover Nordic-American cuisine. There, he learns to work with bark, salt and smoke techniques, as well as lacto-fermentation and preservation methods. Josef, on the other hand, takes up market gardening, beekeeping and botany.

Two years later, in 2021, Manuel and Josef took over the Auberge du Menez in Saint-Rivoal (Finistère), in the Monts d'Arrée. "We thought it would be interesting to go towards the products rather than the other way around," explains Josef. A year later, their efforts were rewarded with 1 toque and the Terroir d'Exception Bretagne 2022 trophy.

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