René FIEGER

Chef : 1 restaurant A pioneer of fusion cuisine, chef René Fieger is at the helm of Umami in Strasbourg, one of Alsace's finest character restaurants.

Presentation

René Fieger can't explain it. Cooking has always been in his blood. In 1984, the apprentice trained at Cheval Blanc in Lembach (Bas-Rhin), alongside Fernand Mischler, who sent him to Fouquet's in Paris in 1987. " But I wanted a little more finesse," he confides. To this end, in 1988, the young commis joined Louis Outhier's brigade at his L'Oasis restaurant in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, near Cannes. "But six months after my arrival, he sold up. He then recommended us to the establishments of our choice. Mine was chef Marc Haeberlin's Auberge de l'Ill."

At the dawn of the 1990s, René Fieger was dreaming of escape. He first ventured to Munich, to the Excelsior by Geisel, where a friend encouraged him to cross the Atlantic. He settled in Saskatoon, Canada, then on Vancouver Island, where he found his first chef's position at Sooke Harbour House in 1995. In 1998, he flew to Shanghai to open the restaurants at The Willows Golf & Country Club and immerse himself in Asian gastronomy, which he had been introduced to in Canada.

In 2000, back in France with all these experiences behind him, René Fieger decided to launch his own business and opened Le Relais Princesse Maria Leczinska, in Marienthal (Bas-Rhin), where he offers fusion cuisine. "We used to serve 60 people. In 2007, he sold his establishment to open Umami in Strasbourg. Alone with his wife Jessica, he now steers his business according to his whims, putting quality before quantity.

B. G.