MR: «The goal was to reach the top since we opened and we are happy: we are already thinking not only about how to maintain the second star, but also about how to improve. This is a stage in my career, and it is important that it has arrived for me, for the team (ten people in the kitchen and five in the dining room for around twenty seats), for the future, but having always cooked in large restaurants, including the three stars, allow me to say that if the recognition doesn’t arrive, either you worked badly or you didn’t learn anything. Having said that, immediately after celebrating we started asking ourselves questions about the location and our type of cuisine because we always have to question ourselves in order to improve.”

You worked alongside Yannick Alléno for eight years: do you owe him much?

MR: «Yes. I owe Alléno everything and on stage, during the awards ceremony, I thanked him by telling him “Merci chef”. He replied: “C’est bien, well done, celebrate with dignity”. And then he added: “Yes, I helped you, but you took the two stars.” Alléno taught me a lot, on a technical, professional and human level and also helped me to have the right people at my side in this entrepreneurial adventure. I am one chef patron (owner chef), I don’t have the money of big restaurants, no investors behind it, if the restaurant is full profit, otherwise not. And this recognition was also important for the speed with which we achieved it: it doesn’t happen so often and my colleagues in Tours also pointed this out to me.”

Do you miss not working alongside Alléno anymore?

MR: «I miss the daily comparison, yes, but I’m happy to have a place of my own. I think I took this step at the right time with the correct maturity, experience and age. In this journey it was important to find an identity different from that of Alléno because when you create a cuisine for many years alongside a chef like him you need to differentiate yourself.”

What is the identity of your cuisine?

MR: «It is certainly very creative: I use bitters a lot, I like contrasts, I create a cuisine based on technique and sauces. When you come to eat with us you eat from a chef and by this I mean that there is substance, nothing is superfluous, you don’t find trends. My Italian side is pushed into memories, not in the dishes, I could say in the Mediterranean to summarize the concept of a cuisine that is nevertheless French, courageous, powerful, strong. I’m proud to be Italian, but I don’t seek Italianness at all costs.”