TEXT BY CÉLINE – PHOTOS LUDOVIC DI ORIO

THE FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS

CHANGED WATER TO WINE

We’ve known Marie and Jérôme for a while now, they were often coming to Biutiful.

We knew they’d had a restaurant before and we were waiting for them to open one here.
We had to be a little patient, but when we first went there…
it was like eating for the first time.

It’s kind of a special thing, to have dinner at Kamouraska.
It’s different.

For myself, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the fennel leaves dessert.
Yeah that’s for sure, I never got over it.

HALLELUJAH

“Natural wines, to me, are like perfumes.”

# Introduce yourselves in just a few words

J: Jérôme Bigot, Parisian, a painter for 15 years, fond of cooking. When I turned 30 I decided to leave Paris to open my own restaurant in Bourgogne.

MH: Marie-Hélène, from Montreal, living in France for the last 5 years, self-taught sommelier for natural wines. Mom of Sopho.

# How would you describe… 

your cuisine / J: instinctive, kinda raw and free from tradition, I didn’t learn at school. No school , therefore no code.

natural wine / MH: like perfumes. Great emotions. Like the purity of a perfume.

# Your culinary guilty pleasure

J: Chinese food.

MH: dark chocolate, pasta, mullet hoe.

# Underrated food

J: pasta

MH: horseradish.

# Your last meal

J: mullet roe spaghetti or dim sum. Or both. Spaghetti for starters and then dim sum.

MH: pasta.

# The city with the best food

J: Annecy since August of 2016 (laughs), NY, Paris, Montreal. And everywhere in Italy.

MH: Italy in general. Beautiful products, simple and comforting. And Montreal, too.

# Your favorite cuisine?

J: Italian and Chinese.

MH: Jérôme’s pasta.

# The best junk food

J: choosing only one is gonna be tough. A good old cheeseburger, or caramelized ribs. And Chinese fried food.

MH: hamburgers and General Tao chicken.

# Two restaurants (anywhere in the world) to recommend us? 

J: Liverpool House in Montreal, and the Chateaubriand in Paris.

MH: Liverpool House (the same one), and Kadeau on the Bornholm island in Copenhagen. A no fuss gourmet restaurant with an incredible view.

# As a teen you were ?

J: a bohemian artist but down-to-earth.

MH: passionate about art, when I was 12 I got my first 35mm, I was buying loads of magazines, and I was telling everyone I wanted to go study in NYC. And be a photographer in NYC.

# As an old man/woman, you’ll be ?

J: a bohemian artist, but not down-to-earth.

MH: I’ll have a garden, a small house, friends over for dinner. My husband next to me, and we’ll be reading books, and listening to music. And we’ll be making music too, I hope. Yep, that’s the old woman I see myself like.

“No school, therefore no code. I’m having fun.”

# A singer / band ?

J: 2pac, Led Zeppelin, Outkast. So yeah, that’s three.

MH: Leonard Cohen.

# The album or song that clings to you ?

J: « Everyday » by A$AP Rocky

MH: Leonard Cohen’s last album, full of wisdom, it’s magnificent.

# A filmmaker? 

J: David Lynch, and… also… … it’s gonna come back to me… (editor’s note: it didn’t come back before we end this interview)

MH: I haven’t watched a movie in ages. But I’d go for David Lynch.

# Your cult movie? 

J: Buffalo 66.

MH: Dancer in the Dark, Mulholland Drive.

# An actor/actress? 

J: that’s not easy… I don’t think I have a favorite one in particular. I’m more into movies than actors.

MH: Isabelle Huppert, and Denzel Washington in cheesy movies. Like The Pelican Brief.

# An author / a photographer or painter? 

J: Francis Bacon, Charles Bukowski.

MH: Irving Penn, since I’ve been photographing for a long time, he charmed me.

# The book you’re reading these days? 

J: it’s been so long since I last opened a book, unfortunately. The last one I started and that I’m gonna resume during our vacation, … I don’t remember the title… (editor’s note: The Meursault Investigation, by Kamel Daoud) 

MH: I don’t read, I already have my life with my husband and Sopho, I don’t need to read another story.

# The website you visit daily (or on a regular basis)? 

J: I gave up my computer addiction. But still, Pitchfork (editor’s note: http://pitchfork.com).

MH: Facebook

# Batman or Superman? 

J: Batman.

MH: neither.

# A tattoo/tattoos? What year did you get the first one and what is it? 

J: My “cooking virgin” on my forearm, when I was 30, when I decided to leave Paris to open a restaurant.

MH: no tattoos.

# Being cool is…

J: letting loose and enjoy life.

MH: it’s intellectual sophistication. It’s wondering about things, trying to change some of them, sharing. I love philosophy, but it needs to have a purpose.

Being an intellectual must be used for happiness.

# Your shelter?

J: home on a Sunday evening.

MH: my bed. I’m all about lazing around.

# Any projects?

J: plenty!

MH: new premises, for another concept, it’s okay if it takes time. And a house, for our little family. A house in the countryside.

INTERVIEW

KAMOURASKA – TABLE, WINE CELLAR, DELICATESSEN – 6 passage de la Cathédrale – ANNECY

KAMOURASKA  LOVES