Valère DIOCHET

Chef : 1 restaurant Recently awarded 3 toques, chef Valère Diochet prepares the finest seafood and Languedoc produce at Le Méditerranéo - Château Capitoul, Narbonne.

Presentation

"When I was little, I didn't like to eat, I was very picky. Then, as time went by, I tasted products and it clicked!" After working for Michel Kéréver at the Lion d'Or in Liffré (Ille-et-Vilaine) and a season at the Chalet du Mont d'Arbois in Megève, Valère Diochet landed a position at La Côte d'Or restaurant in Saulieu (Côte-d'Or) in 1984. "It was a wonderful turning point. The products were exceptional, Bernard Loiseau was at his peak. Eighteen months after his arrival, the chef sent him on an internship with Jacques Maximin at the Negresco in Nice.

In 1986, Antoine Westermann welcomed him to the Buerehiesel in Strasbourg. "I went from Bernard Loiseau's atypical cuisine with juices, to Maximin's Mediterranean style, then to Westermann's more family-style cuisine", he explains. A year later, he flew to Washington to join the Caprice restaurant, but stayed only four months. " I went there to speak English, but they all spoke Alsatian in the kitchen..." He returned to Alsace as a pastry chef at Le Cerf restaurant in Marlenheim, working with Robert and Michel Husser. He then moved on to Guy Savoy in Paris, the Hotel Martinez in Cannes, and the Chantecler in Nice (under Dominique Le Stanc).

In 1990, Antoine Westermann asked him to join him at the Buerehiesel. He stayed for fifteen years, where he met his wife Véronique. "In 2004, he opened Le Pont aux Chats in Strasbourg's Krutenau district. Coup de Cœur 2005, Grand de Demain 2006... For eleven years, he accumulated awards. But his 7 m2 kitchen and the demands of his customers prompted him to turn the page. In 2015, he took the helm of the restaurant at Château Les Carrasses in Quarante (Hérault), where he won 2 toques. Since 2021, Valère Diochet has been working at Méditerranéo - Château Capitoul, in Narbonne, within the same hotel group. In recognition of his talent and consistency, Gault&Millau will crown him with a third toque in 2023.

I.B.