The young chief revealed by “Top Chef” signed the card of the new Parisian neobrasserie: a generous food thought to delight parents, grandparents and children around the same table.
by Lionel Paillès
With a certain sulky relaxation, she enters the empty room of this restaurant around the Place Vendôme, a scooter helmet by hand. Monday is released. Alexia Duchêne moves on the bench and speaks freely and with a communicative energy of her express journey. The 27 -year -old cv of the chef has ten times more lines than his recipes. She does not disperse; She responds to an insatiable appetite for meetings and experiences. “If I do not understand now the luck that is given to me by media coverage, I will never take advantage of it,” she defends herself. Everything goes fast, she takes advantage of it.
Proof of her desire to taste everything, she embarked a few months ago in the television adventure, with the documentary series “Alexia Cuisine la France”, broadcast on Canal+. She barely returns from two shoots in Quebec and Martinique, meeting young local chefs, producers and local ingredients.
In front of a coffee, she tells her English mother, who grew up in Egypt, and her French father, who lived in California. No professional cook in his family tree, but a certain taste for the table and sharing. “Before being a fan of cooking, as far as I remember, I have always been a fan of restaurants. I went there with my parents three to four times a week!” Not very academic, Alexia abandons 15 years his studies in general and branches off towards a professional sector. After having won her professional baccalaureate and spent a CAP pastry at the Ferrandi school, she continues the residences in London, Paris, Copenhagen, Arles, at Taillevent, in the Alain Ducasse group, at Datsha Underground, in Wanderlust.
In 2017, she joined Giovanni Passerini (elected that year best chef by the fooding) and became a second of cooking, her first position of responsibility. Courted from all sides, Alexia changes addresses as aprons, at the risk of making criticisms who prefer stability on an adventure. Never be where we expect it, a way may not be carried away by the media buzz. Because in the meantime, at 23, she finished semi-finalist of season 10 of “Top Chef”, the Culinary Competition of M6. “This program gave me confidence in my cuisine at a young age.” An age when you do not yet admit your career dreams. So she continues her path, still pecking other know-how, other knowledge.
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