A little less than noon this Tuesday. All smiles, falling off the mask during the photo, Matthias Marc and Mohamed Cheikh, “Top Chef” candidates still in the running, park behind a table set up on the doorstep. They distribute the bags containing their menu, interact with customers and also manage the incessant ballet of delivery men Uber Eats, partner of the operation. A starter, a main course and a dessert for 35 euros: launched last Thursday, the ephemeral offer - it ends Wednesday evening - from their Nomad menu is a hit. It is the exact copy of the one thanks to which the two candidates of "Top Chef" won the test of the restaurant war last week. A test in which it was necessary to offer a take-away offer.
Since Thursday, there have been 250 each day in Paris, and between 100 and 200 in seven other cities in France - Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse - where chefs and their teams are responsible for making them. .
According to Uber Eats, 4,000 have already been sold in five days.
This Wednesday, deliveries being extended to the inner suburbs, 400 menus will be prepared in the capital.
Paris (I), April 27.
Each day, 80 kg of lamb shoulder, 80 kg of oranges, 120 mackerel are cooked by about twenty people, on two different sites.
LP / Olivier Arandel
“It's a real logistics to put in place,” blows Matthias Marc.
In Paris, like every day, 80 kg of lamb shoulder, 80 kg of oranges, 120 mackerel are cooked by about twenty people, on two different sites.
Everything is centralized in the old Racine 2, in the 1st arrondissement, from where the orders start.
Passed by this restaurant, Matthias has just taken over the place to soon open a second address in Paris after Substance, in the 16th century.
On the one hand, the kitchens, where seven people take care of the starter (flame mackerel, grilled cucumber, iodized yogurt) and the dessert (orange blossom, burnt citrus fruits and pistachio sponge cake).
The other part of the team receives and prepares the orders on the line.
A speaker broadcasts rap.
Here, we work in music.
To read also “Top Chef”: we tested the click and collect menus of 5 former candidates
Mohamed has just arrived, greet everyone.
He oversees the dish - shoulder of lamb confit with juice, chickpeas, coriander and chorba - cooked in another restaurant with five people.
“I send the dishes around 10:30 am then I come here to share with people and see the enthusiasm,” Mohamed slips.
It's fun to see this craze.
"
On the sidewalk, 11:30 am, orders are opened and Lucie shows up first.
She comes from Gagny by RER.
“I tried to order on the app, but they weren't delivering that far, so I came before the opening and at 11:30 am, I was on the app,” smiles the young woman.
She takes four menus.
"It's for my family, my dad is a fan, he tanned me, he wanted to taste too much.
"
The delivery men retrieve the menus.
“Be careful, it's fragile, eh!
Matthias warns.
"We must not crush them," adds Mohamed.
"So, did you win
Top Chef
or not?"
»Slips them, at the time of the selfie, Raphael, come to recover his directly.
A recurring question that the accomplices have learned to dodge.
400 menus prepared per day, that's a lot of logistics.
LP / Olivier Arandel
Yann and Esteban are coming back for the third time from Seine-et-Marne.
"The idea is to taste what you see on TV, it's so tempting," Yann intervenes.
It's a surprise for someone who is a big fan of the show, ”he adds.
He took two per person, out of greed.
With his nose in his smartphone, Patrick, retired from Nogent-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), has been on the picket line for ten minutes.
" Can I help you ?
»Asks Matthias.
"I try to order but it doesn't work," he laments.
“Come on, we'll get it straight to you.
»A small selfie in passing.
Before leaving with their packages, fans of the show can not resist a small photo.
LP / Olivier Arandel
Dominique came with her son, Ethan, 5 years old.
“He is shocked, he told me:
they really exist!
"The 19th century resident in Paris takes a menu for both of them:" It's still a small budget, "she slips.
"You know that we watch your series all the time," says the boy to the two candidates who invite him to visit the kitchen.
“We watch in replay,” says his mother, “I'm a fan and suddenly he also loves to cook. "So you want whoever wins?" Mohamed asks him. " You two ! »Replied the boy tit for tat. A little more than noon this Tuesday, in half an hour everything is gone. Bis repetita expected in the evening from 6.30 p.m.
