Jean-Yves Drevet, 38: chef

Neuchâtel chef Jean-Yves Drevet has been awarded the title of 'best rising newcomer 2009' by top food guide Gault Millau with a score of 17 out of 20. The Frenchman, who hails originally from the rural Auvergne region, takes delight in talking about his love of food and his life in Switzerland. On my way to the hotel-restaurant La Maison du Prussien, on the outskirts of Neuchâtel, it seemed unlikely that I was about to discover one of the city's best restaurants hidden away here. The building, an 18th century brewery, is set on the riverside in the Vauseyon gorge among centenary trees and ancient mills; a little patch of wild and romantic nature in this rather industrial landscape.
“People don't come here by chance,” says Jean-Yves Drevet as he welcomes me in the restaurant's winter garden. “Since we're not in the centre of town, it took a little longer to get people to know the place. We really had to be different, to offer a unique experience.”
The French chef has run Le Prussien, as the Neuchâtelois call it, since 2000, when he took up the challenge of turning what used to be a second-rate restaurant into a table of excellence. “I fell in love with this place,” he says, “and I was very excited at the idea of creating something special here.”
Drevet was born in the Auvergne region in central France and studied at one of those tradiional French hotel schools, the Ecole Hôtelière, in Clermont-Ferrand before leaving for Switzerland, where he met his wife. She works with him today. But Drevet also fell in love with the country.
After returning to France, where he worked for two years in a plush country restaurant, he came back to Switzerland and settled for good in the Neuchâtel region. “I really love Neuchâtel. I live in the Val-de-Ruz, among the cows. I don't like big cities. I'm a country person,” he explains. Here, Drevet is reminded of the authenticity and the relaxed rhythm of life of his home region, something that he would trade for nothing in the world.
The French chef is a bit of an outsider in the world of gastronomy. He did not train in any of the most renowned restaurants and progressively built up his reputation by developing a very personal style, which is regarded as both imaginative and tradition-bound.
The Gault Millau prize is a mark of recognition of his work from the profession. This new-found fame surprised Drevet, and merely encourages him want to work even harder and create new recipes for his customers. “After I made the cover of L'Hebdo (magazine), people in town congratulated me," he points out. "It's really nice but the most rewarding thing for me is when I 'spy' on the dining room and see that the customers are having a wonderful time in my restaurant.”
Drevet also insists on the collective dimension of his job. “What we do is team work. In a restaurant, everyone is important, from the dish washers to the waiters, not just the chef. I have great staff and we all work to 'pamper' our guests.” For him, the friendly atmosphere and human touch are central to gastronomy and he delights in talking with his customers, getting their impressions and sharing his passion for fine food.
“There is definitely an emotional quality in my cooking," he adds. "People sometimes tell me that a certain flavour, a certain texture reminds them of a childhood memory.”
That generosity, he believes, is down to his rural upbringing. “My grandparents had a farm in Auvergne and my grandmother was a wonderful cook," he explains. "The pleasure of food has always been very important in our family and it was always something to share. People used to come by and have a coffee and talk. It is something I never forget as a chef today.”
But Drevet's infectious passion for his trade, be it for wines or local products, also encompasses new experiments. To him, the recurring debate about traditional versus modern, or so-called “molecular”, cooking does not make much sense since both inspire his recipes: “You can work from a very basic product and go in many different directions. The scientific approach is not against tradition but enriches it.”
The French chef says that he is curious by nature and likes to understand how ingredients work together, something that new research into cooking make possible today. “Everything gives me news ideas of recipes. I love to be creative and to surprise people.” he adds, defining his cooking as rather joyful, full of contrasts in tastes or colours, textures or presentation.
Not surprisingly, Drevet feels there is a theatrical element to gastronomy. Backstage, in the now silent kitchen, the chef enigmatically takes a jar from one of the refrigerators and, holding it like a precious treasure, shows me its contents with an enchanted smile: “These are fresh truffles from the region,” he explains enthusiastically as I sniff the strong aroma. "Every autumn we propose a special truffle menu.“ And I can see that he is already imagining the next act.

Neuchâtel chef Jean-Yves Drevet has been awarded the title of 'best rising newcomer 2009' by top food guide Gault Millau with a score of 17 out of 20. The Frenchman, who hails originally from the rural Auvergne region, takes delight in talking about his love of food and his life in Switzerland. On my way to the hotel-restaurant La Maison du Prussien, on the outskirts of Neuchâtel, it seemed unlikely that I was about to discover one of the city's best restaurants hidden away here. The building, an 18th century brewery, is set on the riverside in the Vauseyon gorge among centenary trees and ancient mills; a little patch of wild and romantic nature in this rather industrial landscape.
“People don't come here by chance,” says Jean-Yves Drevet as he welcomes me in the restaurant's winter garden. “Since we're not in the centre of town, it took a little longer to get people to know the place. We really had to be different, to offer a unique experience.”
The French chef has run Le Prussien, as the Neuchâtelois call it, since 2000, when he took up the challenge of turning what used to be a second-rate restaurant into a table of excellence. “I fell in love with this place,” he says, “and I was very excited at the idea of creating something special here.”
Drevet was born in the Auvergne region in central France and studied at one of those tradiional French hotel schools, the Ecole Hôtelière, in Clermont-Ferrand before leaving for Switzerland, where he met his wife. She works with him today. But Drevet also fell in love with the country.
After returning to France, where he worked for two years in a plush country restaurant, he came back to Switzerland and settled for good in the Neuchâtel region. “I really love Neuchâtel. I live in the Val-de-Ruz, among the cows. I don't like big cities. I'm a country person,” he explains. Here, Drevet is reminded of the authenticity and the relaxed rhythm of life of his home region, something that he would trade for nothing in the world.
The French chef is a bit of an outsider in the world of gastronomy. He did not train in any of the most renowned restaurants and progressively built up his reputation by developing a very personal style, which is regarded as both imaginative and tradition-bound.
The Gault Millau prize is a mark of recognition of his work from the profession. This new-found fame surprised Drevet, and merely encourages him want to work even harder and create new recipes for his customers. “After I made the cover of L'Hebdo (magazine), people in town congratulated me," he points out. "It's really nice but the most rewarding thing for me is when I 'spy' on the dining room and see that the customers are having a wonderful time in my restaurant.”
Drevet also insists on the collective dimension of his job. “What we do is team work. In a restaurant, everyone is important, from the dish washers to the waiters, not just the chef. I have great staff and we all work to 'pamper' our guests.” For him, the friendly atmosphere and human touch are central to gastronomy and he delights in talking with his customers, getting their impressions and sharing his passion for fine food.
“There is definitely an emotional quality in my cooking," he adds. "People sometimes tell me that a certain flavour, a certain texture reminds them of a childhood memory.”
That generosity, he believes, is down to his rural upbringing. “My grandparents had a farm in Auvergne and my grandmother was a wonderful cook," he explains. "The pleasure of food has always been very important in our family and it was always something to share. People used to come by and have a coffee and talk. It is something I never forget as a chef today.”
But Drevet's infectious passion for his trade, be it for wines or local products, also encompasses new experiments. To him, the recurring debate about traditional versus modern, or so-called “molecular”, cooking does not make much sense since both inspire his recipes: “You can work from a very basic product and go in many different directions. The scientific approach is not against tradition but enriches it.”
The French chef says that he is curious by nature and likes to understand how ingredients work together, something that new research into cooking make possible today. “Everything gives me news ideas of recipes. I love to be creative and to surprise people.” he adds, defining his cooking as rather joyful, full of contrasts in tastes or colours, textures or presentation.
Not surprisingly, Drevet feels there is a theatrical element to gastronomy. Backstage, in the now silent kitchen, the chef enigmatically takes a jar from one of the refrigerators and, holding it like a precious treasure, shows me its contents with an enchanted smile: “These are fresh truffles from the region,” he explains enthusiastically as I sniff the strong aroma. "Every autumn we propose a special truffle menu.“ And I can see that he is already imagining the next act.