Thierry MARLÉ

Chef : 1 restaurant After working in a number of different countries, chef Thierry Marlé offers a cuisine with an Argentinian flavour at Le Asa in Montpellier.

Presentation

I wanted to make a career out of drawing," he says, "but I also liked cooking, as it gave me an escape. When it came down to it, I preferred cooking, as it seemed safer", says Thierry Marlé. After obtaining a CAP and a BEP, he left for London in 1996 to join the Tower Thistle Hotel, "I wanted to try my hand at adventure!" He then joined the Oxo Tower as demi-chef de partie, before becoming chef de partie at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant. "a very famous French chef in New York. It was the third-best hotel in England at the time."

In early 2000, Thierry Marlé set sail for the Côte d'Azur, first as sous-chef at the restaurant Les Dunes, then at the Plage Le Sporting restaurant. "I worked with Simon Davey, one of my chefs in England; I stayed for a year and a half." Then it was off to Courchevel, at La Mangeoire, as sous-chef. After the mountains, he moved to the island of Bahrain to work at La Fontaine, then to Andorra for four years.

He and his South American wife then moved to Marbella (Spain), where he worked in a Swedish restaurant, then at Finca Basaya and Sul Mare. "After spending some time in Formentera, he moved to Barcelona in 2009. There, he discovered Catalan cuisine and the steakhouse.

A new adventure in 2014: Thierry Marlé flies to Buenos Aires to take over the Batacazo. He stayed for two years, then returned to France, to Montpellier, to oversee the kitchens at Maison de la Lozère. "It was a challenge to work in this Montpellier institution, I just had to get it right!"

Since 2023, Thierry Marlé has been at the helm of his own restaurant, Asa, in Montpellier. He offers "South American and Asian fusion cuisine with French inspiration". Gault&Millau includes him in the 2024 edition of 109 - Le Sang neuf de la gastronomie française.

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