Vivien DURAND

Chef : 1 restaurant Atypical, to say the least, as meeting Vivien Durand is a far cry from the classic vision of a gastro chef with a straight chef's hat and a full career.

Presentation

A Pyrenean by birth, he moved from one département to another as a child, from Pas de la Case to Aveyron via Bigorre, before entering the Lycée Hôtelier in Souillac with big dreams. "I wanted to go to Ducasse and I did.At the Louis XV. He perfected his skills in the Monegasque language, frequented a few other fine establishments to acquire all he needed to know about Riviera cuisine, and returned to his native region to open his first restaurant at the age of 24 .

His first big break came when he joined the Eguizabal winery in Hendaye. He was impressed by the erudition and approach to wine of Pierre Eguizabal, who had been Alain Chapel's head sommelier for seven years. "Everything I learned about wine, as I went along, resonated with what I thought about cooking, in sauces, acidity and bitters. From then on,I never thought about a dish without thinking about what would go with it. "

As time went by, his cuisine became more refined, tending towards the best version of itself, the purified product, but enriched by a great and invisible technique, a dash of spice, a cooking secret, which makes a rib of beef or a shoulder of lamb unforgettable. Here again, in 2014, the planets aligned for the second time with another great encounter .

"I'd had two meals at Jean-Marie Amat's and was blown away, thinking that this was the type of cuisine I wanted. He'd blown me away with a beef like you'd only dream of, apparently quite simple, yet with a unique flavor" . The great Jean-Marie, the Bordeaux prince of Saint-James, who revolutionized the city's Cours de l'Intendance and then Bouliac, was then occupying the Château du Prince Noir in Lormont .

"I was still in the Basque country when I met Alain Ducasse. He told me about the Prince Noir and put me on the case. I saw it as a sign, an opportunity I had to seize .

In just a few months, the deal was done, all the better for the fact that the owner, developer Norbert Fradin, has done an ideal job of shaping this historic residence, whose first construction dates back to the 11th century. "I have a wonderful tool and the freedom to work exactly the way I want". Vivien's cuisine, as you've come to expect, is neither plant-based, nor traditional, nor seafood, nor farmhouse, but all at once seasonal and based on the very best of the produce .

A few weeks ago, the whole team, and even some old hands who had returned for the occasion, celebrated Vivien Durand's tenth anniversary at the Prince Noir. "It's something of a source of pride for me today, to see all the young people trained here who have gone on to work in such fine establishments. And the story, of course, doesn't end there:"There are still some beautiful pages to be written here.We're doing well, but I'm sure there's still room for improvement! ".