Valentin Neraudeau: I started my apprenticeship at a very young age, when I was 14, with the Michelin-starred chef André Daguin, then in other fine establishments such as Puits Saint- Jacques, with Bernard Bach, who also had two Michelin stars. I followed this path as a young apprentice the hard way in French and Mediterranean gastronomic kitchens. I saved up my apprenticeship wages to open my first restau- rant, which I did, in Toulouse, at the age of 20: it was called Le Valentin and I was the youngest chef in France. A year and a half later I opened a second restaurant, Le Carré Rouge, which was more of a brasserie. At the age of 24 I had a third restau- rant in Lot-et-Garonne, and I was beginning to feel the weight of this management. Then I took part in the fourth edition of Top Chef and I was contacted to become the operations manager and head chef of an incredible restaurant called the Bermuda Onion, on the top floor of Beaugrenelle, in Paris. It was after that experience that I sold everything I owned to a group to position myself in the luxury sector: one thing led to another and I had worked for some CEOs of luxury houses and luxury watchmakers, and I had connections with some major clients. Today, I've got a big budget and some great projects, both in France and abroad. Each event is unique, and I know the codes that make my clients' events a success, the DNA of their brands, what they like, and I always cook with seasonal produce. My mother and grandmother are excellent cooks, and I became a chef because my grandfather was a gardener. We sowed and planted. I found it incredible, as a child, to go from the seeds to the vegetables that you harvest one morning at dawn, and which will be wonderfully cooked. I work in a world where you need to know how to behave, a highly educated world. There are codes to respect, and I’m able to de-stress quickly, keep smi- ling and be positive. I maintain this state of mind in everyday life, because if you stay in a zone of suffering, if you undergo, you don't move forward. You have to be able to get out of your comfort zone at any moment and find solutions for guests who are culturally very different, with extremely variable expectations: their happiness at the table is our satisfaction. The customer is king: I regularly cook for princes, presidents of the republic and ministers. I hope, dear readers of Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine, that we'll soon have the opportunity to cook at your table, to your great delight! www.chef-valentin-neraudeau.com
~C L A S S & R E L A X L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E - 2024 ~
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