Thibaut FOURDRINIER

Chef : L'Âme au Vert Having honed his skills over the years in Avoriaz, Ramatuelle, and Marrakech, Chef Thibaut Fourdrinier has been running the restaurant La Salle à Manger in Marcq-en-Barœul, near Lille, with his wife Karine since 2010.

Presentation

Thibaut Fourdrinier began his studies in a sports-focused program, specializing in soccer. “But I didn’t like the system,” he explains. His family then encouraged him to pursue a career in cooking. “ I wasn’t a big fan and wasn’t very engaged. It was the people I met who got me hooked.” After earning a BEP, a CAP, and a vocational baccalaureate, he landed his first job at the Hôtel du Golf in Arras.

Avoriaz, Ramatuelle, Mougins: a chef trained to the rhythm of the seasons

The young chef then embraced the seasonal rhythm. Thus, between 2000 and 2007, he spent winter after winter at the Hôtel des Dromonts in Avoriaz, rising from commis to chef, while working every summer at the restaurant Les Moulins in Ramatuelle alongside his mentor, Thierry Dufroux. “He’s a Ducassian. It was from him that I learned to respect the farmer, to highlight the ingredients, without wasting anything.” In the winter, when he wasn’t in Avoriaz, he worked alongside Fernand Vaz at the restaurant Les Muscardins in Mougins.

A first head chef position in Saint-Tropez, then a return to his roots in Paris

In 2004, Thibaut Fourdrinier landed his first head chef position at the Polo Club in Saint-Tropez-Haras de Gassin, but decided, a year later, to become a sous chef at the Relais du Parc in Paris. “ I’d become a chef a bit too young; I was missing some fundamentals. I needed to step back and give myself a little kick in the pants.”

From Marrakech to Marcq-en-Barœul: The Adventure of La Salle à Manger

After being named head chef in Avoriaz and Ramatuelle, Thibaut Fourdrinier helped open Leroy’s Kfé in Marrakech. There he met his future wife, Karine; he stayed for two years, then returned to France, where he accepted the position of executive chef at the Christophe Leroy restaurants in Saint-Tropez. Since 2010, the chef and his wife have been running their restaurant, La Salle à Manger, in Marcq-en-Barœul (Nord), in the Lille metropolitan area. In 2016, they moved to a more spacious location with a capacity of 40 seats (and 30 more on the terrace).