International
Xavier ISABAL
Chef : 1 restaurant
"I'm a bit like Obélix, I've always been in the cooking pot," says Xavier Isabal. A third-generation restaurateur, the chef grew up at Ithurria, the family restaurant in Ainhoa (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). It was here that he got his first job as a café attendant. "I always had my stool because I was too small at the time", he recalls with a laugh.
He then set off to train: CAP and BEP cuisine, bac hôtellerie and CAP pâtisserie. He took the opportunity to do internships with Lenôtre and Jean Brouilly. In 1991, he even won the title of Best Apprentice Pastry Chef in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region. Two years later, he experienced "a happy event in the form of Marine, [his] eldest daughter". He then decided to join the family business and became head pastry chef.
Since April 2001, the chef and his brother Stéphane, who works in the dining room, have owned the 26-room hotel-restaurant. Xavier Isabal gave up pastry-making for cooking, and trained the next generation, embodied by his nephews Louis (pastry-making) and Martin (cooking). "It's a rare establishment in France. We're four generations who have kept up the level of gastronomy," he enthuses.
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