Rémi CHAMBARD

“I still remember those big family dinners. My grandparents were farmers, and my uncle was a butcher and deli owner. He still is, actually.” From early childhood, Rémi Chambard developed an appreciation for the local produce of Charente-Maritime, where he is from. He spent his summers as a teenager in the kitchen: “ Going to work at my uncle’s place—he also did a bit of catering on the side—was my summer job .”

In middle school, at the end of ninth grade, the teenager listed his top three career choices: landscape architect, sailor, and chef. Particularly drawn to the latter, he turned his attention to the culinary arts. While earning his CAP and BEP with a specialization in pastry, he completed his first notable internship with Grégory Coutanceau at the restaurant Les Flots in La Rochelle. One memory from that time left a lasting impression on him: “ I have a very vivid memory of a monkfish with tomato sauce that my grandmother used to make. That taste has stayed with me.”

From Deauville to Biarritz: Apprenticeships in Luxury Hotels

Rémi Chambard began his career at establishments belonging to the Lucien Barrière Group. Highly regarded, he joined Éric Provost’s kitchen staff at the Hôtel Le Royal Deauville in 2005. This first experience at a luxury hotel opened the doors to the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, where he worked alongside Jean-Marie Gautier.

After the west coast, Rémi Chambard ventured to other regions with the goal of discovering French gastronomy in its entirety. He first settled at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, where he honed his skills under Didier Aniès, before moving on to Les Sources de Caudalie in Martillac (Gironde). There, he met Nicolas Masse—an encounter that proved to be pivotal.

2012: Arrival at Les Étangs de Corot and the Birth of a Culinary Identity

In 2012, Nicolas Masse offered him the chance to take the helm of the kitchen at the hotel Les Étangs de Corot. Rémi Chambard was only 28 at the time. In the early years, he was still finding his way: “It was my first position as head chef; I had to find a style of cooking that would present itself well.” ” The restaurant’s identity took shape four years later with the publication of a cookbook: “ Four years after I arrived, we published a book in 2016, and it was from that moment on that we were able to define this place: we’re in ‘country Paris.’ ” This book, *Les Étangs de Corot—Paris de campagne*, became the foundation of his cuisine.

The chef readily embraces the spirit of the place: “I’m from the provinces, and I find that here we have that same little provincial feel, with the ponds, the forest, and that rather family-oriented country atmosphere .”

A Culinary Tradition Rooted in Île-de-France

In 2019, the establishment was acquired by the BL Hotels group, which sought to breathe new life into it. After eighteen months of renovations, Les Étangs de Corot was given a fresh new look, and the fine-dining restaurant—renamed Le Corot—gained a stronger identity. “I now have an exemplary kitchen and everything I need right nearby: watercress from Essonne, the Domaine de la Chalotterie, where I source my butter and milk, peppermint from Milly-la-Forêt, asparagus and leeks from Argenteuil, spinach from Viroflay… ”

The chef takes this philosophy of local sourcing to the extreme, even in his choice of local varieties and symbols: “We play with the history of the pea festival in Clamart, the ‘Belle de Fontenay’ potato variety, and our beehives on Île Monsieur in Sèvres. We always stay within the Île-de-France region.” Honey, cow’s- and goat’s-milk cheeses, and champagne from a domaine in Seine-et-Marne for the sauces: almost everything comes from within a radius of a few dozen kilometers. It’s a loyalty he proudly embraces: “ I’ve been working with these producers for ten years. I often say it: I’m aloyal person.”

Since 2017, Rémi Chambard has championed a resolutely rustic cuisine crowned with three toques, a rating confirmed in the guide’s latest evaluation (“Table Remarquable,” 15.5/20). Just twenty minutes from Paris, the chef continues his quest for a cuisine ever more deeply rooted in his region, nestled between ponds and forests.