Chef at Le Bristol Paris and Meilleur Ouvrier de France will preside over the jury of the Taittinger Prize, the final of which will take place on 30th January.
It is ten years since Emmanuel Renaut presided over the jury of the International Culinary Prize, “Le Taittinger”. Head Chef at Le Flocons de Sel in Megève, he himself picked up the baton from Gilles Goujon in 2013. For the 2024 edition, it is a competition regular, a frequent member of its jury, who will take over the chair — Éric Frechon, three-Michelin-starred chef at Le Bristol Paris, who has been working non-stop since 2009. The responsibility with which he has been entrusted is highly befitting of a man who has always had a taste for handing down knowledge and for excellence.
Trained at the Culinary School in Rouen, the Normandy-born chef’s career path is peppered with stints at some of the most famous establishments in France: Taillevent, La Tour d’Argent, Les Ambassadeurs at the Hôtel du Crillon and more besides. It is through rubbing shoulders with the greats that he learned his trade and his quest for excellence began. In 1993, he became Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The following year, he opened his first restaurant under his own name, La Verrière d’Éric Frechon.
Now chef at Le Bristol Paris, he was awarded three Michelin stars in 2009 for the restaurant Épicure and also received one star for 114 Fauborg, the Brasserie at Le Bristol Paris, in 2014. Épicure was named “best restaurant in the world” three times under his leadership.
Amongst Chef Frechon’s signature dishes, that define his identity and brim with his know-how, connoisseurs gush over the “macaroni stuffed with black truffle, artichoke and foie gras”, the “Sologne caviar, smoked Ratte potato and haddock mousseline with crispy buckwheat straws” or the much-celebrated “Bresse chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder, with supremes in yellow wine, crayfish, candied giblets and black truffle”.
The man is curious, inventive and relishes new challenges, bringing his know-how and energy to establishments as varied as the Brasserie Lazare, restaurant Le Drugstore, La Petite Plage in Saint-Tropez, Saint-Barth and Biarritz or La Ferme Saint-Amour in Megève and Courchevel.
Yet, it would be a mistake to pitch Éric Frechon as the defender of haute cuisine alone, the cuisine of grand occasions. The chef also likes to rework popular dishes in his own way, from burgers to club sandwiches, as well as writing books aimed at guiding simple, amateur cooks…and parents of young children. Always with the same desire for sharing and handing knowledge down.
Last year, Dutch chef Jan Smink beat eight international finalists with his recipe of pork tenderloin with truffle baked in brioche. This year, Éric Frechon and the jurors will have their work cut out when it comes to deciding between the competitors, who are once again of a very high standard.
