At Toya, one Michelin star, the menu varies with the seasons and the products all come from the region.

An ecological approach assumed by the young 34-year-old chef who believes that the sector had sent "a false message to customers: we cannot have strawberries in December, we have to find the rhythm of the seasons".

The trout comes from a fish farmer in Abreschviller, a few dozen kilometers from the restaurant.

"You have to get out of your kitchen and discover the work of the producers to realize the richness of our region", pleads Loïc Villemin.

And for the supplier, Jérôme Messang, working with this "passionate cooking purist" signifies real "product recognition".

“A producer who works with a Michelin-starred chef is always rewarding,” says the Moselle fish farmer.

If his menu includes an entirely vegetal menu, he also always serves meat and beef which he buys from two breeders in the Vosges, again in a desire to "enhance the work of the producer".

A dish prepared by chef Loïc Villemin, November 4, 2021 in his restaurant "Toya" in Faulquemont, in Moselle JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN AFP

And there is no question for the chef to throw away the parts considered less noble of a carcass, because "there is not only the tenderloin in a beef: it is necessary to use each piece with the same application and the same respect".

Pass on your know-how

Waste as little as possible and "imagine a product in its entirety" is at the heart of the cuisine served at Toya.

Here, the green of the leeks is used to make an oil, the fish bones are smoked before being incorporated into a sauce and the skin of the Jerusalem artichoke roasted and powdered to "emphasize" a flavor in a dish.

In the drawers, glass jam jars have replaced the plastic boxes.

But Loïc Villemin admits it, the process can be "complicated" at the start, because "we are in our comfort zone, our habits".

Hence the importance for him of having been accompanied, in particular by Ecotable, a company which guides restaurateurs towards eco-responsible practices and which has awarded three labels, the maximum, to Toya.

Today, this young chef with a relaxed look with his beard and tattoos also wants to pass on his know-how.

He who learned the trade first in his parents' restaurant where he grew up and then alongside starred chefs, launched during confinement a zero-waste training agency for restaurateurs.

The starred chef Loïc Villemin in his kitchen at the "Toya" restaurant, in Faulquemont, in Moselle, November 4, 2021 JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN AFP

Laurent Peugeot, head of Charlemagne in Pernand-Vergelesses, in Burgundy, where Loïc Villemin worked before opening Toya, is full of praise for his former employee: "One of the best" he has trained, including the cuisine "makes you travel, makes you dream".

The chef, also starred, describes him as "crazy about work", "in advance": "When he does something, he invests himself thoroughly, we do not have a star if we are bad".

Zen atmosphere in the kitchen

In the kitchen at Toya, everything is settled down to the minute but there is no question of being hard with the teams: "I myself have worked in harsher atmospheres and we no longer want that. We play it. future of our profession, it is up to us, the young generation, to change things, ”explains Loïc Villemin, who for example decided to close from Sunday to Tuesday.

"It's 100% beneficial, when people are rested, we do a better job," he notes, stressing that he has not lost customers.

And in the room, whose large bay window overlooks the Faulquemont golf course, customers are greeted "at home".

Loïc Villemin in the garden of his restaurant "Toya" in Faulquemont, in Moselle, November 4, 2021 JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN AFP

An atmosphere that Sarah Errico remembers, who came with her husband a few months ago to celebrate their wedding anniversary: ​​"My husband was dressing the dish with his fingers so it was good, I still had a little shame, ”she says.

Then to their surprise, a waiter came forward with a gravy boat and served the gourmet again with a good swig of sauce: "We understood when we left that in fact ... it was the chef!".

© 2021 AFP