Adrien Zedda, whose Lyon restaurant Culina Hortus was crowned best vegetarian restaurant in the world in 2020, will be one of the 15 candidates for the twelfth season of the Top Chef show.

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Marie ETCHEGOYEN / M6

  • The twelfth season of the Top Chef television show kicks off this Wednesday evening.

  • Among the 15 candidates, Adrien Zedda, a young 26-year-old chef living in Lyon.

  • The cook, crowned young talent 2020 by Gault and Millau, turned to vegetarian cuisine only two years ago.

  • A choice that pays off since Culinas Hortus was crowned best vegetarian restaurant in the world in 2020.

A new season under the theme of "unlimited creativity".

While the Top Chef televised competition is back in service this Wednesday evening on M6, Adrien Zedda will be keen to shine behind the stove.

Because this 26-year-old chef, originally from the Loire, does not lack creativity.

Or genius.

The proof: the Gault et Millau guide named him “young talent” in 2020. And one of his two restaurants, Culinas Hortus, located in downtown Lyon, was voted best vegetarian restaurant the same year. in the world by the guide We're smart green guide.

Just two years after it opened.

Boldness, it will take to stand out from other candidates and impress the jury.

However, not enough to scare the young cook, already familiar with the exercise since he had participated in the program Objectif Top chef in 2014. "I competed for twelve years, reveals the one who presents himself as a "competitor".

This allows you to surpass yourself, to make new creations.

In a competition, you go alone.

We don't have our whole brigade behind us.

Which forces you to get out of your comfort zone.

"

Turberculous kings of the plate

To seduce the taste buds of the jurors, Adrien Zedda, the show's first candidate to run a vegetarian restaurant, will therefore focus on originality.

“Offering another cuisine is not necessarily a handicap, nor an obstacle.

On the contrary, it can be a strength, ”he says.

And to add: “Today, 95% of the customers who come to eat in my restaurant, are not vegetarians.

I am not either.

For a leader what is stimulating is to be able to do things that others have not already done ”.

For example ?

Make vegetables “the number one item on the plate”.

Enhance products that do not necessarily have a good reputation with consumers.

Like the tuberculosis patients he loves.

It was in Australia, where he spent a year, that the trigger came.

“I worked in a self-sufficient restaurant that produced its fruits and vegetables.

I was very interested in growing vegetables, in the plant world, ”he says.

During this experience, the young chef will learn to go beyond the standards to create surprise and deceive the palate of gourmets.

Driven by curiosity, he gets caught up in the game, has fun revisiting recipes and taking up challenges.

And becomes passionate.

“What I wanted to do was build a kitchen out of dishes I would like to eat,” he says.

A solid experience in the kitchen

An achievement he is proud of: candied celery with sesame espuma and a full-bodied vegetable juice and shiso leaves.

“We let the celery roast in the oven for 12 hours at low temperature.

This gives it another texture, another taste and another color.

We add spices, soy sauce to obtain a brown appearance.

In the end, it almost makes you think of a piece of meat, details Adrien.

The skins, we will cook them as if we were making gravy.

With reductions and decoctions, we arrive at flavors that are very concentrated in taste, similar to meat juices ”.

Behind its stoves, the cauliflower is cooked in a salt crust, served with a coffee broth and a buckwheat tile.

Beets are used to make ravioli dough stuffed with ricotta and fresh herbs, accompanied by lemongrass-kaffir lime broth.

"It is to give a different image of the products and to break the habits", sums up the young father of a family, little worried about the idea of ​​preparing meat-based dishes for the competitions.

"It's only been two years that cooks only vegetables but before, I have ten years of experience in cooking", answers the one who went through "starred restaurants".

It remains to be seen whether he will succeed in being sacred at the end of the competition.

Answer from this Wednesday evening.

Television

"Top Chef": Who are the fifteen candidates for season 12?

Television

"Top Chef": Why will season 12 be "without comparison with the others"?

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