Pierre ALTOBELLI

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

For Pierre Altobelli, cooking is a legacy. His restaurant is the fruit of a family history dating back to 1953, when it was founded by his grandmother Davia. But before becoming the owner, the chef started out at Chez Bruno, in Lorgues.When I went there," he says, "I didn't think I'd end up in one of the big houses."The trigger? Reading Alain Ducasse's book La Riviera (published by Albin Michel), which reminded him of his mother's cooking."I said to myself, 'This speaks to me, I've got to go to Alain Ducasse'."

To achieve this, Pierre Altobelli trained with Jacques Maximin for a year and a half, then moved on to Christian Morisset at the Hotel Juana (Juan-les-Pins). Four years later, after a detour with Pierre Gagnaire, he arrived at the Louis XV, Alain Ducasse's Monegasque restaurant. A dream come true.

And so began his travels. First he went to Paris, to work for Yannick Alléno at Le Meurice, then on to Montpellier, to work for the Pourcel brothers. "I went there to immerse myself in their cuisine and train to be able to take over the management of their restaurant in Shanghai."After a year at Sens & Bund, he joined the brigade at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. While in China, he took advantage of two training courses in Japan, one at RyuGin (Tokyo), the other at Kikunoi (Kyoto). Having fallen in love with the country, he takes up the reins of Michel Troisgros' kitchen at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. His last stop was at the InterContinental in Osaka, at Pierre, the restaurant that bears his first name.

In 2015, the chef took over the family business Chez Davia, in Nice. Here, he offers traditional Niçoise and Provençal cuisine inherited from his grandmother and mother. A successful transmission rewarded with a toque in 2019 and the Tradition d'Aujourd'hui Gault&Millau 2022 trophy.

I.B.