Top Chef winner Stéphanie Le Quellec on how the TV show changed her life
- Before appearing on television, the chef was very shy, but she found confidence and a sense of self on the show
- At 37, Le Quellec, who previously ran a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, says she is ready for a new challenge
What was your childhood like? “I grew up in a small town called Enghien-les-Bains, 20 minutes from Paris. When I was five, I didn’t play with toys, I would go into my grandmother’s kitchen and make small cakes – sables Bretons. It was like a game for me. My mother and grandmother were good cooks. For Christmas and birthdays, we would have 20 to 25 people, and my mum would cook for four to five hours.”
When did you decide to become a chef? “When I was 14, I told my mum I didn’t want to study academics, I wanted to go to culinary school. She let me do it. Today I want to thank my parents, because 23 years ago chefs were not rock stars like they are now. Cooking was what you did when you couldn’t do anything else, and there were hardly any women doing this.”
What was culinary school like? “I was the youngest student at 14, everybody else was around 17. I grew up quickly. I had to take the train to culinary school in Paris every day. Every weekend I cooked for my parents as a kind of homework. I did my baccalaureate and master’s in five years.”
What did you learn in your first job? “In 2000, I started working at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, in Paris. I worked there for four years. I come from a modest family and we had never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant. When I chose to become a chef, it was to have my own restaurant and cook simple dishes. But the George V was a revelation because I discovered luxury hotels and Michelin stars. I decided this was what I wanted to do. [This kind of cooking] is very hard, very technical.”
How did you meet your husband, David? “I met him at the George V – I was a commis chef and he was a sous chef. We got married a year later and had our first baby a year after that, and since then my life has gone by quickly. We worked together for four years at the George V and four at the Four Seasons Terre Blanche [in Provence]. After that we both became executive sous chefs.
“I said if we want to stay married we should have separate kitchens. He got another job and I stayed at the hotel. We haven’t worked together since. He is an incredible husband. He does the same job so he understands my job more than anybody. He is proud of my career, so he pushes me, and he’s an amazing father.”