Haute cuisine : between tradition and imagination

Stéphane Coche, 49, born in La Rochelle, is the owner of the Châtaignes et champignons restaurant, recently mentioned in the Gault et Millau restaurant guide. The former accountancy student has spent about 10 years' training in various Lyons restaurants, bent on discovering new techniques and flavours. His restaurant is located in the typical village of Chalançon, overlooking the Eyrieux valley.

I like to cook local, traditional products in an imaginative way. What you eat in my restaurant is unique. I love mixing flavours, watching my friends discovering new dishes.

The menu varies according to the seasons, and his own taste, but it is always centred around specialties from the Ardèche, such as chestnuts and goat cheese : chestnut tarts, chestnut chutneys. A novelty for 2017 : a chestnut tree-pollen-based seasoning to be used with trout, or a lamb dish, accompanied with... a few chestnuts. A lamb farmed in Chalencon, of course.