As our well-known song says: “Šime has come back, where has he been?…” – And our Viktorija has come back to us after a month – for her, a fairy-tale month – spent on an internship at the top restaurant Le Grand Puech in Mimet, Provence, France.
We remind you that Viktorija won the international Mediterranean Women Chefs scholarship, which, in addition to a cash award, also includes a one-month internship in Provence with chef Michel Basaldella, an instructor at Alain Ducasse’s prestigious gastronomy school.
To keep it short, here are Viktorija’s impressions:
“In Mimet I felt at home; the people were very positive and cheerful, but the only thing that was a bit harder for me was the language – though thanks to my French and English teachers (and a little waving of the hands), we managed to understand one another.
Work at the Le Grand Puech restaurant was organized in two shifts. The first shift was from 9:00 to 14:00, and the second shift from 18:00 to 22:00. My colleagues came from different parts of the world, even from India, and chef Michel looked after us all.
At the restaurant, respect is shown toward food, with a connection to local ingredients, and great care is taken to waste as little as possible. I learned a lot of new specialties, and the highlight of my work was a visit to Marseille, where I cooked with famous chefs for a dinner of 200 people and saw the Escoffier awards ceremony – awards of the renowned global culinary association Les Disciples Escoffier, an organization that promotes top gastronomy all over the world.
I had the exceptional honor of visiting the restaurant and trying a dish by the great Georgiana Viou, who made her name on the French MasterChef in 2015 and won the prestigious Young Talent of the Year Trophy awarded to her by Gault&Millau. Michelin confirmed her culinary skills by awarding her restaurant Rouge its first Michelin star.
On a tour of beautiful Provence, I saw where top wines are produced and their famous large vineyards.
What I will remember most are the good and positive people who went out of their way to make all of this feel like a fairy tale for me.
My mentor, chef Basaldella, is one wonderful great chef who values his work and strives for the food he prepares to be, above all, delicious, to please the guest, and he has so much respect for it. What I liked most was his personality, so cheerful and smiling; he gladly chats with every guest and tells them the history of that dish or wine and jokes with them. In my month spent with him, I did not see a single guest leave his restaurant without a smile on their face.
I must admit that it was very hard for me to part from such a great chef and so many good people. I hope that one day, when I finish school and perfect the language, I will be able to come back and have the honor of being part of their story and part of the team.”
And we will only say that it was our joy and pleasure to be part of the first steps, education and growing up of our Viktorija.
