Anne-Sophie Pic launches her tea time and the price is really reasonable!
Sweet tooth: Anne-Sophie Pic is launching her tea time in her restaurant in Valence, and the price of this luxury tea party should surprise you...
Good news for all foodies! Anne-Sophie Pic , the only three-starred woman in France, is spoiling us by launching her first tea time in his Woodpecker House in Valencia. To make the best possible offer, the chef entrusted her pastry chef Eric Verbauwhede and her head sommelier Edmond Gasser with the task of imagining this sweet interlude, soberly titled the 4H.
This premium tea time includes 4 types of sweet assortments to taste: sweet starters, pastries, pastries and plated desserts, all accompanied by a drink of your choice prepared by the in-house sommeliers. It is thus possible to opt for tea, coffee, hot chocolate or a cocktail. To devour these sweet pleasures, you will have to wait until February 5. It will then be offered every Sunday and Monday afternoon, provided you have reserved your place before 3 p.m. the day before. Best of all? The price. Despite the house's (very) good reputation, Anne-Sophie Pic set the price for this formula at 39.90 euros, a good way to have fun without breaking the bank.
The biography of Anne-Sophie Pic
Woman, self-taught, daughter of the boss… During her career, Anne-Sophie Pic had to relentlessly deconstruct many (and deplorable) sexist stereotypes. Today only triple-starred woman in France , she knows that her success is the result of her determination. Born on July 12, 1969 in Valence, in the Drôme, Anne-Sophie Pic is part of a long line of restaurateurs. His great-grandmother, Sophie, opened a restaurant in Ardèche before 1900, called L'Auberge du Pin. His son, André, will take over the business and will obtain three stars in 1934, thanks in particular to his fabulous gratin of crayfish .
After the war, André loses his stars... 'Nothing is acquired in this house, that's what moves me' , says Anne-Sophie Pic. He recovered them in 1973 and passed on his knowledge and his passion to Jacques, Anne-Sophie's father, who took over the reins of the Woodpecker House . While the eldest of the siblings, Alain, leaves to do his apprenticeship, the future chef grows up in an apartment above the kitchens, immersed in the daily life of the restaurant. 'The good thing is, for my birthday, I invited the whole class to eat cream puffs!' notes a bit amused, the chef.
Despite the rarity of moments shared with the family, his parents manage to convey to him a positive image of the work of a restorer. As a teenager, Anne-Sophie nevertheless decided to follow management studies in Paris. It was during an internship at Moët & Chandon during the summer of 1992 that she understood her vocation. She discovers the culture of champagne there and finds the same know-how as in her family kitchens.
She then returned to Valence to complete her apprenticeship with her father Jacques Pic. In particular, it is expected that she will enter the kitchen while taking courses at the hotel school. But a few months later, in September 1992, Jacques Pic died of a ruptured aneurysm, at the age of 59. Despite the absence of his father, Anne-Sophie Pic takes over the controls of the establishment alongside her brother and with the support of her husband, David Sinapian , whom she married in April 1993.
The beginnings are difficult. Anne-Sophie Pic works in all positions except in the kitchen, and the establishment loses its third star in 1995. Her brother Alain decides to leave the company three years later. It's a shock. Anne-Sophie Pic then took over the kitchens of La Maison Pic: 'I come up against everything imaginable, I suffer inappropriate, disrespectful remarks ' she remembers.
However, the chef learns to develop her own taste, to combine flavors, to perfect cooking... She finds the recipe for crayfish gratin of her grandfather, which she revisits, and makes it a success again. Then mother of a one-year-old boy, she opened her own bistro, 7 by Anne-Sophie Pic, in 2006. Her tenacity and her work will allow her not to lose the second star of the family brand and even , in 2007… to get a third one! Anne-Sophie Pic thus becomes the only French female chef to obtain 3 stars .
In 2011, Anne-Sophie Pic was elected Best female chef in the world speak Veuve Clicquot award . Since then, she has opened one establishment after another in Valence, Paris, London and Lausanne, as well as grocery stores and a cooking school, Scook, in her hometown. She also participates in an episode of the show Top Chef: Secrets of the Great Chefs on M6 where she gives her advice on how to prepare vegetables in gastronomy. In 2015, ultimate consecration: the chef sees her wax double enter the Grevin Museum , alongside Pierre Hermé. Anne-Sophie Pic joins Paul Bocuse and Alain Ducasse, the only two chefs so far represented. A sign of her expertise, Anne-Sophie was chosen by Netflix to represent France in its brand new cooking show, The Final Table .
At the same time, she wrote several culinary books, including Citrus , the latest. This book is the result of collaboration with researchers from INRA and CIRAD on the different varieties of citrus present on the planet. But that's not all: particularly sensitive to early childhood issues, Anne-Sophie Pic has notably set up a endowment fund to help children suffering from food-related pathologies .
Where to find its restaurants?
To Valence, la cheffe gère the Woodpecker House from its beginnings, as well as its homonymous restaurant. She also holds a 1930s style table, called André in honor of his grandfather. At this address, 'It's the story of my family that is written, told and above all savored' , she assures. In order to vary its offer, it joins the movement of great chefs who have launched brands at low prices. Located in Valencia, its Daily Pic offers a full lunch for less than 20 euros. Anne-Sophie Pic believes that good food should not be reserved for the rich . As a worthy heir to a family of gourmets, she has 'I want to pass on what I have learned and make people want to start cooking again'.
And because nothing scares her, Anne-Sophie Pic runs the kitchens of the Beau Rivage Palace restaurant in Lausanne, as well as that of La Dame de Pic in Paris, London and Megève, in the Four Seasons hotel, awarded a Michelin star since 2022. His latest challenge? Tackle Asia and open a third Dame de Pic. Challenge taken up! The restaurant was born in the luxurious Raffles hotel in Singapore and will officially open its doors to the public in August 2019.
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How to define your kitchen?
While her father favored coating sauces, Anne-Sophie Pic tries to find lighter alternatives. For a long time, she tried to discover other techniques than cryoconcentration - the fact of cooking thanks to the cold -, 'but this is not possible on a daily basis' , she reasons. She is also interested in lactic and alcoholic fermentations, before discovering the with him , a broth used in Japanese cooking.
This touch of exoticism does not prevent him from working with the products of his childhood. 'The Drôme is the first organic region in France, it is an exceptional terroir' , she enthuses. This is also valid for its establishments abroad, where it makes it a point of honor to take into account the terroir and local products .
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What are his signature recipes?
When she imagines a dish, Anne-Sophie Pic seeks to touch the soul and arouse an emotion. Its recipes represent the perfect balance between his family heritage and his own creativity . For fans of her father's cuisine, she offers a ligne au caviar bar 'Jacques Pic' , as well as, on rare occasions, a truffle turnover, of which she has fond memories. She also honors her grandmother, who offered a floating island with pink pralines 'to fall' , revisiting this dessert with different flavourings. The one that offers meticulous dressing also offers a bitter honey chocolate presented as a honeycomb which is buzzing on social media.
But her signature dish remains the one that best represents her: inspired by the sweets of her childhood, she has created berlingots in his sauce. These are pasta whose particular shape makes it possible to obtain a flowing, unctuous and greedy interior. It is available in all its restaurants in several combinations of flavors, depending on the season.
In the symbolic cuisine of chef Anne-Sophie Pic, we find the white asparagus melting accompanied by a coulant flavored with Arabica coffee, turbot and grated black truffles as well as line-caught bass with caviar. Sweet level, the white millefeuille and its light Tahitian vanilla cream. According to Véronique André's book 'Small Secrets of Great Chefs', published in September 2021 by Hachette Pratique editions.
Source journaldesfemmes.fr
