Top Chef Season 16: Star Wars

Already sixteen years of existence for this essential television meeting of cooking enthusiasts. Each year, Top Chef brings together two to three million viewers every Wednesday evening, from February to May on M6, to see the young hopes of French gastronomy compete.

The reputation of “coach” leaders of the show, as gifted as theatrical, has largely served the success of the program. This year again, Philippe Etchebest, Glenn Viel, Paul Pairet, Hélène Darroze and Stéphanie Le Quellec (winner of season 2 of Top Chef) will supervise the candidates. How to renew yourself, what is more after a high -flying anniversary season last year?

The Michelin guide, prestigious partner

This season’s surprise is the partnership signed with the famous Red Guide. Michelin inspectors have already had the opportunity to judge one or other of the tests in the past, but this time, they will constitute a regular jury of the program to the final. However, these inspectors are strictly unknown to anyone, even of the chiefs, since their anonymity is a guarantee of their impartiality.

“An exceptional device has been put in place to allow them to be as close as possible to the tests without being recognized,” explains Gwendal Poullennec, director of the guide. The last event of the season will consist in the confrontation of the two finalists in two ephemeral restaurants created by them. The winner will really be able to, the day after his victory the day after, opened the doors of his. And if the Michelin inspectors consider him worthy, they will be able to give him a first star at the time of this opening. With the risk of selling this distinction, which some chiefs are waiting for years?

The chiefs expect this possibility of a star to be debated within the profession. “Applicants are assessed throughout the season, the inspectors may even scrutinize them more than conventional leaders. But the guide works for his customers, this is what bases his requirement. To be reliable, you have to have an experience in a restaurant. Hence the format of this final, to go to the end of the experience, ”says Gwendal Poullennec.

At least one star by the guide for 31 candidates

For chief Etchebest, “with the involvement of the guide, we even ask the candidates more. They know that they are evaluated, which is not the case in a classic restaurant where we do not know when an inspector comes, but under increased pressure conditions which are not those we are confronted with in the usual life of kitchens ”.

“These are great professionals, their analyzes – that we never usually see – are impressive precision and accuracy. Their tastings are much longer than ours, ”abounds Hélène Darroze. Since the launch of the program in 2010, 31 candidates have been awarded at least one star by the guide.

This partnership therefore represents a surprise, but which finds a certain logic: “Top chef, just like the guide, works to look for and highlight talents, around common values”, continues Stéphanie le Quellec.

New tests

The involvement of the Michelin guide is not the only novelty of this season. The test of the black box, dear to the show, usually requires candidates to reproduce a recipe specially designed by a French chef. This time, the mystery recipe was developed by the five heads of the jury of the program themselves, who each “put an element on the plate”. “They were not made easier for them,” said Hélène Darroze mischievously.

Also to be discovered: the “Restos War”. In this unprecedented event, a mystery brigade will face competitors in a restaurant mounted by former candidates of the show. An intense challenge, in the same way as that which will involve the service of a palace for 24 hours. Finally, an event will take place in the prestigious house Baccarat, run by chef Alain Ducasse in Paris.

The surprise always at the rendezvous

Despite years spent accompanying the candidates, the chiefs claim to continue to be surprised. “And fortunately,” exclaims Philippe Etchebest. “The candidates are different, there are always new features,” he said. For Glenn Viel, “the level no longer surprises us, the interpretations of the dishes, however, yes”.

Representative of their generation, young candidates carry the ecological concerns of their contemporaries. “They have a conscience of the profession and the challenges of sustainability, which we may not have, and which boosts us,” analyzes Hélène Darroze. The chiefs all agree: these candidates are inspiring.