Olivier SAMSON

Chef : 2 restaurants

Presentation

"My first community service was shelling peas in front of the Tour de France," says Olivier Samson. Born into a working-class family in central Brittany,he remembers family meals as a place for sharing. As an adult, he wanted to keep this tradition alive by opening La Gourmandière in Vannes.

It all began in primary school. Olivier Samson spent time with his grandmother, who took him to the bakery where she helped out. The owner asked him to help out and fill the apple tarts: "My first wage was a millefeuille!"In ninth grade, the schoolboy had only one wish: toenter the Dinard hotel school. He did his internship at Restaurant Patrick Jeffroy, in Plounérin (Côtes-d'Armor). " I realized that I hadn't made a mistake and that I too wanted to become a great chef.

After the army, with his professional baccalaureatein his pocket, Olivier Samson embarked on a tour of France's top restaurants: "Everywhere, but not in Paris! " He worked in Marc Dach's kitchens at the Club de Cavalière in Lavandou, then atHôtel Le Grand Coeur in Méribel, and the Byblos in Saint-Tropez. He apprenticed with Jean-Pierre Jacob (Le Bateau Ivre, Courchevel), Roland Pierroz (Rosalp, Verbier), and Anne-Sophie Pic (Maison Pic, Valence). "I stayed there forthree years, from 2000 to 2003. Meeting the chef was a real turning point in my career: an inexhaustible source of inspiration."

In 2003, Olivier Samson joined Fabrice Vulin's brigade at the Parc des Eaux-Vives in Geneva. He was appointed head chef in 2006. " My aim was to maintain the 16/20 rating awarded by Gault&Millau. In 2009, he made a detour to La Réserve de Beaulieu on the Côte d'Azur. After two years, in his forties, he took the plunge.

Attached to his homeland, Olivier Samson returned to Brittany in 2011, where he opened La Gourmandière, in Vannes, with his wife Aurélie, whom he had met in 2001 at Anne-Sophie Pic. "It was a daring gamble. The restaurant had no identity. I divided it into two parts: a gourmet bistro on one side, Bistr'Aurélia, and a refined table on the other, La Table d'Olivier." Very quickly, his daring work was hailed by the critics. Gault&Millau quickly awarded him 3 toques and the Innovation Bretagne 2014 trophy. "Today, I still cook by instinct, using the day's produce."

B. G.