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
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