Star Chef Joël Robuchon to Open Culinary School in France

 

Maison Dieu, Vienne
Photo of the Maison-Dieu courtesy of Vienne Office de Tourisme

As witnessed by the high standards at La Grande Maison Bordeaux, Joël Robuchon is not a chef who rests on his laurels. (His Bordeaux restaurant has significantly improved the Bordeaux culinary scene, now populated with new gastronomic restaurants from other competing star chefs.) With the most Michelin stars worldwide, Robuchon continues to up the ante in the world of gastronomy. The latest example is Robuchon’s announcement of plans for an international culinary school.

As reported by Yahoo! News, Robuchon will open a school in 2018—financed by an Asian investment group—in Montmorillon in the Vienne area of western France, where Robuchon is from. To be housed inside the Maison-Dieu seminary, a heritage-listed building that was formerly a monastery-hospital, the school will train “the chefs of tomorrow” in both French and English. To quote Yahoo! News: “The training will last for between two months and three years, and will cover the various skills required in a restaurant (cooking, desserts, chocolate, ice cream, sommelier, waiter, etc.) and a hotel (housekeeper).”

The vast facilities will include 20 classrooms, laboratories, a multimedia lecture hall, a kitchen garden, a wine cellar, and a restaurant where the chefs-in-training can cook for visitors. Star designer Pierre-Yves Rochon has been entrusted to decorate the interiors, and there will even be a hotel attached to the school for culinary-minded travelers.