Chefs & partners of Chefs au Sommet d’Auron around Colette Fabron et Michel Guillot. ©YesICannes.com
For the past nine years, Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron have been celebrating haute gastronomy in the snows of the Mercantour with dinners by talented chefs and pastry chefs who also liven up delicious gourmet workshops at the foot of the trails.
From January 18 to 24, 2020, Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron offered summits of taste, mountains of flavours and peaks of culinary emotions in the heart of the emblematic Mercantour ski resort. For the past nine years, the Mountain Gastronomy Festival has been bringing together talented chefs and renowned pastry chefs from the French Riviera who share an authentic moment of culinary pleasures and conviviality with tourists and inhabitants of the Haute Tinée region.
Auron ©YesICannes.com
Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron, an original recipe
With the sumptuous peaks of the Mercantour as a backdrop, Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron celebrated Haute Gastronomie according to an original recipe of happiness and culinary sharing. Take a skewer of great chefs, season with authentic flavours from our mountain products, add a pinch of madness with the Toques Brûlées, a touch of pleasure with cooking and baking workshops for adults and children, and spice up with a big ladle of relaxation, happiness and well-being. Finally, sprinkle with snowflakes and simmer for seven days in the sunshine of the Mediterranean Alps.
Playfull inauguration! ©YesICannes.com
A couple of chefs as godparents
For the first time this year, a duo of chefs presided over Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron: Noëlle & David Faure, from SensÔriel in Nice, two chefs with endearing personalities, full of talent and creativity, loved by all and unifying. These two godparents had placed the Mountain Gastronomy Festival under the sign of sharing and energy, good humour, joy and friendship, making the Festival “an enchanted interlude”, in the words of David Faure. Present at all the events, Noëlle and David brought warmth and passion, charm and fun to Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron to make an unforgettable edition.
Noëlle et David Faure ©YesICannes.com
Memorable culinary experiences
Under the patronage of Noëlle and David Faure, the amazing and explosive couple of chefs, Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron offered a week of culinary demonstrations, conferences, fun workshops and gourmet happy hour at L’Edelweiss hotel in the central place, accompanied by the delicious cocktails of Victor Delpierre, World Barista/Cocktail Champion, creator of Le Riounet, the official Auron cocktail. In the presence of Colette Fabron, Mayor of Saint Étienne de Tinée, the inauguration of Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron was hosted for the first time by the Maîtres Restaurateurs from the Alpes Maritimes and their President Théo Mansi. Every evening, the restaurants of the resorts of Auron, Saint Étienne de Tinée and Saint Dalmas le Selvage welcomed in their kitchens talented chefs and pastry chefs who concocted sumptuous gastronomic dinners at the unique price of 45 euros for the inhabitants of Haute Tinée and holidaymakers. These exceptional dinners were enjoyed by the fireplace, in the relaxed and warm atmosphere of the dining rooms in the wooded and mountainous decor of the mountain restaurants.
Giant barbecue at the foot of the trails ©YesICannes.com
Exciting show-cooking with the Toques Brûlées
On Sunday, at the foot of the trails, skiers and gourmets enjoyed a sweet and savoury cooking show at a giant barbecue and mechoui hosted by the Toques Brûlées, led by the amazing David Faure. Every year, the chefs set the table again to set Auron’s slopes ablaze with energy and friendship as they grill gastronomic specialities based on beautiful fish, spit-roasted lamb, game cooked to the heart and numerous local products including bread, cheese, wine… followed by desserts. A beautiful event of sharing by passionate cheffes and chefs, spiced with good humour and fun for the greatest happiness of skiers on the snow front at the foot of Auron’s slopes.
Emmanuel Lehrer’s locavore ©YesICannes.com
Showcasing the locavore from high country
Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron casts a light on the products from the high country, fresh, organic and seasonal products with a unique taste, a mountain gastronomy to be enjoyed in beautiful and peaceful landscapes. These raw materials are cultivated or raised by farmers and stockbreeders who are passionate about their profession and their land, such as those of the Montagnes Paysannes association, partners of the Mountain Gastronomy Festival. Ferme de Lavancia, Agnès Papone, Ruchers de Sallagriffon, Ferme du Poussinet, Potager de Saint Blaise, so many appellations that invite to culinary poetry and authentic flavours.
Jean-François Bérard preparing Pot au feu de la Mer ©YesICannes.com
Gourmandise after-ski
After the inauguration and the Ateliers des Maîtres Restaurateurs, for seven days, the resort experienced summits of gastronomic pleasures with gourmet after-ski, culinary initiations and tastings, conferences, demonstrations on the covered terrace of the Hotel-Restaurant l’Edelweiss on the central square. Chefs and pastry cooks shared their know-how and tips to succeed in cooking chef’s dishes. Chef Jean-François Bérard, in particular, presented a splendid Pot au feu de la Mer with his customary good humour. Victor Delpierre, the Barista/Cocktail World Champion, led the Barista/Cocktail workshops, revealing to an attentive audience the secrets of his original creations of cocktails or “mocktails” (non-alcoholic cocktails) in order to reproduce them at home. He made people taste his creation, Le Riounet, Auron’s official cocktail, and introduced skiers to La Chartreuse.
Victor Delpierre ©YesICannes.com
Gastronomic dinners to be enjoyed without moderation
Every evening, the restaurants in the resort of Auron, Saint-Etienne de Tinée and Saint Dalmas le Selvage welcomed talented chefs and pastry chefs from the region into their kitchens to prepare sumptuous gastronomic dinners at the unique price of 45 euros per person. These exceptional dinners can be enjoyed by the fireside, in the relaxed and warm atmosphere of the dining rooms decorated with the woodwork of the mountain restaurants. The gourmet menus, consisting of an appetizer, starter, main course and dessert, have delighted both pupils and taste buds alike. The gastronomes savoured a very wide range of French-style culinary art with regional products, sublimated and highlighted by the Bio and Locavore theme of the 9th edition of Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron.
The cheffes in the spotlight: Déborah Georges ©YesICannes.com
Some flavors of the Mountain Gastronomy Festival
Le Dîner des Maîtres Restaurateurs des Alpes Maritimes at the Salle Rovery
Jacques Rolancy (Le Rolancy’s, Nice) et Philippe Brito (Pâtisserie Philippe Brito, Cannes) at La Table du Chalet
Alain Llorca et Lean-Michel Llorca (Restaurant Alain Llorca, La Colle sur Loup) at La Bergerie
Jean-François Bérard (Hostellerie Bérard, La Cadière d’Azur) at Les Pivotes
Déborah Georges (Auberge Lo Robur, Roure) et Marc Payeur (Consultant) at Le Régalivou in Saint Etienne de Tinée
Emmanuel Lehrer (Le Mas de Pierre, Saint Paul de Vence) et Bruno Laffargue (Mic Mac Macarons, Carros) at Le Bistronome
Aurélien Véquaud et Steve Moracchini (La Passagère, Hôtel Belles Rives, Antibes) at Le Gratusier
La Cuisine Spectacle with the Maîtres Restaurateurs ©YesICannes.com
Friendship, sharing and gastronomy
The Gastronomy Festival was born from the initiative of the passionate members of the association of merchants of Auron and Saint Étienne de Tinée who, having forged friendship links with many starred chefs in the region, created the festival in February 2012. Supported by Colette Fabron, Mayor of Saint Étienne de Tinée, who is present at numerous events and dinners, the gastronomic event Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron is organised by Michel Guillot, President of the Tourist Offices of La Tinée, and his team, the association of Merchants and Artisans of Auron and Saint Étienne de Tinée, with the support of the Tourist Office, the SEM des Cimes du Mercantour and the Chamber of Trades of Alpes-Maritimes and Artisans Arts and Delight. As with any large-scale event, the Auron Gastronomy Festival benefits from the support of numerous partners who added a scintillating sparkle to Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron.
Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron
18 – 24 January 2020
Restaurant d’Auron, St Etienne de Tinée and St Dalmas-le-Selvage
Information: Auron Tourist Office
+33 (0)4 93 23 02 66
The Chefs’ Gourmet Happy Hour at the Auron 2020 Summit in pictures
Click to enlarge – ©Cook&Shoot Aline Gérard and YesICannes.com – All rights reserved
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