Xavier RADOJEWSKI

Chef : 1 restaurant At the helm of Lyon's neobistrot Ravigote, chef Xavier Radojewski will be crowned with 2 toques in 2023.

Presentation

Xavier Radojewski is a lover of freedom. " I don't really like constraints," he admits. And his career path proves it. A devotee of "good food" from an early age, he took a BEP (vocational training certificate) in cooking, then spent a season on the Côte d'Opale. He then went on to earn a restaurant dessert diploma at the Trois Dômes du Sofitel in Lyon.

Then, to satisfy his need for freedom, he did a series of temporary jobs, notably in school canteens and hospitals. " In 2007, he was hired in the kitchens of Soline, in Lyon. Six months later, he joined the brigade at the Bistrot de Lyon as a commis, then pastry chef. "They wanted to make me head pastry chef, but I didn't have the shoulders for it. I was 20, I wanted to travel." He then took a break from the restaurant business to work for the SNCF and La Poste. And, as soon as he could, he traveled around Europe.

In 2009, he put down his bags for a season at L'Alpage, in Les Menuires (Savoie). It was crazy," he says, "I was making pastries and, when the second-in-command wasn't there, I was doing 250 covers in two hours." After a year in Brussels, he returned to Paris to work at La Sardine, a bistro on Place Sainte-Marthe. In 2011, he joined Alain Senderens' team for a few months. "I was fed up with doing bistro work, I wanted to progress, but I didn't like the atmosphere there." He returned to officiate at La Sardine, then became chef de partie and second at a restaurant near Belleville park. Last stop: Pantin, near Paris, at the restaurant Quotidien, where he earned his first chef's position.

Since 2016, Xavier Radojewski has been flourishing at his own establishment, Ravigote, in Lyon 3. The restaurant has since been joined by a grocery-bakery, L'Annexe Ravigote. In recognition of the chef's creative energy, Gault&Millau awarded him 2 toques in 2023.

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