Food

Gourmets’ best-kept secret is hidden in the countryside of Aix-en-Provence. Surrounded by greenery, La Villa des Chefs dispenses a program of gastronomy lessons for all the region’s most important chefs.

By Sarah Carrière-Chardon - September 1, 2011

Via individual classes or a complete course, La Villa des Chefs has become a gourmet rendezvous. Offering a high-tech cuisine and teaching every culinary feat, La Villa nonetheless conserves its human scale. In small groups, you are welcomed to participate. Here, nothing’s left to chance, and without a fuss you will share in the secrets of fine cuisine, pure and simply.

One after another, hints, tips and tricks of the trade are released throughout the busy days.

Michelin starred chefs, France’s Best Craftsman, cake-making champions, but also master sommeliers, complement each other by sharing their knowledge and know-how. According to seasonal themes, focusing on a local ingredient or how to best marry food and wine, La Villa has something for all tastes. From the most traditional chef, gatekeeper of a Mediterranean culture, to the most experimental chef developing his own style, all agree on the choice of quality and an ode to southern flavors.

The time for feasting has arrived; we sample our collective meal in the living room, or in nice weather, by the pool in the garden. At the chefs’ request, this garden will soon contribute a new flavor dimension to La Villa; beginning next season they will use it to cultivate rare herbs.

 

The venue’s managers are a couple with a background both as restaurant professionals and academics, always attentive to feedback in order to grow and enrich their program.

At La Villa des Chefs, they reconnect in a certain way with Aquae Sextiae, the Roman name for Aix en Provence. The Romans, with their villas, gardens, pools and banquets, celebrated a certain lifestyle that has never really been forgotten here.

 

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Painless Gastronomy at La Villa des Chefs