Sébastien CARMONA-PORTO

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

Sébastien Carmona-Porto came to the restaurant business by chance. "I answered an advert in the newspaper," he says. He then went on to take a CAP, then a BEP at the Lycée Hôtelier in Caen, while doing an apprenticeship at Le Cocotte Café in Trouville. "It was a small, traditional restaurant, with only fresh produce straight from the fishing boats."

After completing his studies, he worked a few extras at the same establishment, then landed a job at Brasserie Les Bains. A few months later, the young chef left for Savoie. "It was quite festive, but that's not where I learned the most," he laughs. He eventually returned to Trouville and joined the team at La Régence restaurant, in the pantry. "Every morning, the boss would go and look at the fishmongers' stalls, select them and we'd work on them straight away."

In 2004, he had several choices, but decided to settle in the capital. "For me, there was only Paris," he says, and so he joined Le Duc, a renowned fish and seafood restaurant on boulevard Raspail. "Coming from Normandy, having always worked with fish, it was a logical next step." Sébastien Carmona-Porto stayed for eight years, progressing from pantry to second chef.

A new adventure awaited him: the opening of his own restaurant, Helen, in the 8th arrondissement, with two partners, including Franck Barrier, the restaurant manager. The chef offers his specialty: fish in all its forms. Proof of his talent, Gault&Millau awarded him 2 toques in his first season and the Cuisine de la Mer, des Lacs et des Rivières Île-de-France trophy in 2023.

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