Thibault SOMBARDIER : Meaningful and Modern cuisine
- French 1 Star chef in Paris
- Also leading a bistronomy restaurant
- Culinary DNA from Burgundy and Beaujolais
More 1 star chefs here. Other French chefs here.
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When Thibault Sombardier sets out to create a new dish, his main concern, beyond staying true to both the produce and the season, is that it conjures up a taste of his childhood.
From a family split between Burgundy and Beaujolais, his culinary DNA was forged in the “Cold Lands” of the Isère region, with souvenirs of the cider vinegar his grandparents made and which he would drizzle on tomatoes from the garden with a little garlic, chives and a drop of crème fraîche. Other benchmark flavours include blueberry jam, hazelnuts, walnuts from Grenoble, honey… simple, honest produce, which he had long believed he would never be able to find again.
As a result, whenever Thibault receives products or a harvest from a farmer, producer, fisherman or breeder, the flavours and aromas must coincide with those stored in his memory.Not that taste is all that matters, the link between the product and the souvenir has its importance. A chard-stuffed Mediterranean capon served with bouillabaisse juices reminds him of spearfishing with his father.
The clams which he buys in La Trinité-sur-Mer invoke memories of Hanoi streefood. As for the Saint-Georges tricholoma mushrooms which he serves with lobster and soft petits pois cakes, basil and a sweet garlic emulsion, they bring to mind a pastime in which he still indulges from time to time, mushroom picking in the local woods.
His cuisine is meaningful and each dish, whether gastronomic at the one-star restaurant Antoine or bistronomic at Mensae, his establishment near the Buttes Chaumont, or at Sellae, his new bistro in the 13th arrondissement, seeks to remind guests of a taste, a story, a memory, a smell… Two styles, one identity!
