Théo FERNANDEZ

Chef : 1 restaurant Chef Théo Fernandez, a regular at the finest establishments (Ritz, La Réserve...), has opened his Auberge de la Forge in 2019, in Lavalette.

Presentation

"When I was at college, I was bored. I needed something concrete. Cooking appealed to me, with its noises and smells..." confides Théo Fernandez. So it was with great eagerness that he enrolled at the Lycée Hôtelier Occitanie in Toulouse to complete his BEP and Bac Pro. After a first internship with Franck Putelat in Carcassonne - "the first chef who made an impression on me" - one of his teachers sent him to Philippe Labbé's Shangri-La in Paris. After becoming a commis, he left three years later as demi-chef de partie. He then followed his sous-chef to the Ritz for two years.

In 2017, he obtained the position of chef de partie at La Réserve Paris, with Jérôme Banctel. "Philippe Labbé built me, Jérôme Banctel accomplished me," he says. Despite their desire to work in the great Parisian houses, Théo Fernandez and his wife, Claire Cames, decided to leave. The chef joined the Hôtel & Spa du Castellet in 2018. A year later, a new question arose: "Either we'd go back on a classic circuit and return to Paris, or we'd take the plunge and open our own restaurant." Go for the second option! And so, in 2019, they opened the Auberge de la Forge, in Lavalette, which quickly earned them 2 Gault&Millau toques.

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