For her Bordeaux table, Lilian Douchet has chosen…
For her table in Bordeaux, Lilian Douchet chose the Chartrons, facing the Garonne, a few steps from Maison Nouvelle, the establishment of Philippe Etchebest. A bistronomic restaurant opened with his cousin, Aliaume Gonthier. À la carte, a lunch menu, between 28 and 35 euros, and another blind in three, four or five times, from 47 to 69 euros, as well as dishes to share. “I think I have made affordable offers so that there are as many people as possible who come to taste my vision of bistronomy: creative and with nice combinations of tastes”, explains the chef from Aisne, in the Hauts -of France.
Gourmet cuisine
Regional products are widely represented on his plates: oysters, black pork from Bigorre, Basque-Béarnais cheeses, wines, Lillet – that he sees himself working for a dessert… “Obviously, no South-West without duck, but it is very complicated because of the avian flu”, regrets the ex-candidate of “Top Chef” who obtains his supplies from several Bordeaux addresses such as Laiterie Burdigala. “They were the ones who recommended the Origines chocolate factory to me”, based in Darwin, whose products make up its 500% chocolate dessert. “It all happened like that, by word of mouth. The human is very important. The manager of L’Epicense, for example, comes by every week to give me a taste of spices, condiments, vinegars…”
Lilian Douchet, who divides her time between Paris and Bordeaux, never leaves her menu frozen for long by changing an item on the menu every week. “The objective is to raise the level each time. If he elaborates his recipes from A to Z, he leaves the care of their realization in the kitchen to his chef, Charles Lescoat. “I love creating new dishes. My cuisine, I design it to please people, it must be gourmet”, confides the one who was trained in many starred restaurants before becoming sous-chef at the Parisian palace George V.
Far from the stoves
The way was therefore all traced for him to set up on his own. It was without counting on the Covid-19 which stopped his career as a chef in 2020. “I had to open a gastro in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, in Val-de-Marne. Everything was ready. And there was the first confinement. I had to sign the next day. His lawyer advises him to stop everything. “I didn’t want to stay with my hands in my pockets so I went into mass distribution because I have family in the sector. After training, he became manager of a hypermarket for five months and left the stoves.
“My life is cooking. Even though my dream was dead, I wanted to keep doing what I liked”
His revenge, he holds it thanks to “Top Chef”. Already cast in previous years by the culinary competition, Lilian Douchet had until then declined the offer. “I’ve always thought that TV wasn’t for me. But now was the right time. My life is cooking. Even though my dream was dead, I wanted to keep doing what I liked. »
From his two intense months of adventure, he has many good memories. “At the time, it’s very hard, you can’t imagine all the work that goes into a show. But I made incredible encounters with the members of the jury Paul Pairet, Glenn Viel, Philippe Etchebest and Hélène Darroze. It is a chance to be able to rub shoulders with them on a daily basis. And there are all the guest chefs, it’s extraordinary. “If his passage in “Top Chef” brought him a certain notoriety, he assures not to worry about it. In the dining room, he goes to meet his clients and accepts requests for selfies without flinching. “This notoriety, I live it well. I stayed the same. »
Lil’Home, 29 quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux. lilhome-restaurant.fr
