In Rouen (Seine-Maritime), lovers of gastronomy have just lost a fine table with the surprise closure of the restaurant Rodolphe, starred since 2017. Already, at the end of 2018, Benjamin Lechevallier had closed Origine, starred since 2012. And last year , it was Gilles Tournadre who had chosen to return both of his own.
This time, it was a very young chef, Rodolphe Pottier, not yet 30 years old, who decided to put his talent on hold.
"We had to leave our establishment at the end of the summer, but the implementation of the health pass accelerated our decision", assures the one who was one of the youngest starred in France and who had just received the four toques of the Gault & Millau in December 2020.
"These are the circumstances which dictated our choice"
On Saturday August 7, the curtain finally fell on a place he had occupied for nearly six years.
“We had a mess of cancellations.
And it would have been complicated to put everything in place for such a short time.
And, basically, we considered that it was not our job to carry out checks.
"
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On the Facebook page where he announced this widely commented radical decision, he nevertheless encourages “all of his relations with vaccination” and refuses to enter into any controversy.
“It was the circumstances that dictated our choice.
We had also worked on another large-scale project with two restaurants in a place located on the heights of Rouen, the Dominion.
But it could not be done.
The uncertainties linked to the health crisis, the difficulty in recruiting staff and, today, this health pass, do not encourage taking new financial risks.
"
In the coming months, the young chef plans to reorient himself towards consulting.
While waiting for the continuation ...
