Nature’s palette

Just two hours from Paris an elegant sixteenth century farmhouse awaits you, laying on the edge of a quiet river lined with aromatic plants and centenarian trees. What strikes visitors as they discover this lush Eden is the pristine silence, barely disturbed by the song of the birds, and the rumble of frogs later into the evening. Entering La Grenouillère, ‘The Frogs’ House’, means entering another world: the poetic and fascinating world of Chef Alexandre Gauthier – a talented heir to a fine gastronome family – who is drawing all attentions with a mind-blowing sensuous yet unbridled cuisine that pays a vibrant tribute to his region, his territory, his home.

“This is a house of ‘passing people’. Originally, it was the boatman’s house where they would serve refreshments to people waiting to cross the river. Once the bridge was built, they ended up serving food. Four successive owners passed this house on to each other. My father received it to open his restaurant the year I was born; this is where I grew up. Then my father passed it to me. So now it’s my turn to pass it in my own way: I welcome my clients here for lunch, for dinner, for staying overnight. It’s an open house, a lively place where guests cross by and give back to me a bit of their energy, a bit of their kindness. On my part, together with my team, we humbly try to leave a mark in our clients’ lives by passing over to them products made by craftsmen with unique savoir-faire: vegetable farmers, small-scale stockbreeders, but also ceramists. These are the products I like to cook, products I want to share. I am a passer. I am this house and this house is who I am”.

Read the full story in Issue 8