The 39-year-old owner of a storied lakeside inn in the French Alps was on Monday crowned France’s chef of the year by the Gault & Millau gastronomic guide.
Jean Sulpice was named chef of the year in the 2018 Gault Millau Guide. — AFP Photo
Jean
Sulpice won the coveted award a year after taking over L’Auberge du Pere Bise,
a century-old hotel on the shores of Lake Annecy which has played host to the
likes of Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and Richard Nixon.
Gault
& Millau’s owner Come de Cherisey praised Sulpice for his lightning rise
through the rarefied world of French cuisine.
"He
is working his way up a high mountain pass", he said.
On
his website Sulpice describes his food as being "filled with the riches of
the mountains" where he grew up.
His
menu gives pride of place to regional products, such as venison, brown trout
and Beaufort cheese.
Sulpice
ran a two-star Michelin restaurant in Val Thorens ski resort - Europe’s highest - before snapping up the property on Lake Annecy, 100 kilometres to the north,
in 2016.
After
a facelift costing several million euros the stately Auberge reopened to the
public in May.
Among
the other winners of Gault & Millau’s 2018 awards were 32-year-old Cedric
Grolet of the five-star Le Meurice hotel in Paris, named the country’s top
pastry chef.
Born
in the Loire region to a truck driver father and hairdresser mother Grolet has
gained a huge following on Instagram for his colourful, fruity creations.
Gault
& Millau publishes an annual guide of 3,800 eateries across France, over
two-thirds of which offer dishes costing under 30 euros (US$35).
It
is less well-known than the Michelin guide, whose stars are seen as a sort of
culinary holy grail.
By AFP