Michelin-Starred Chef Hélène Darroze Takes Helm at Royal Mansour Marrakech Restaurants

Hélène Darroze’s Moroccan culinary adventure - the first outside Europe - comes after a proposal from the legendary Yannick Alléno, a 12-Michelin-starred chef, who has run the La Table and La Grande Table marocaine restaurants at Royal Mansour Marrakech for about a dozen years. "I knew Yannick’s work here, and for him, he said it was the end of his story, then he sent me a text saying that I can’t dream of anyone else but you to take over," Hélène Darroze recounts in an interview with Penta. The project interests her. "I fell in love with this project," says the one who did not know Morocco very well. "For now, I’m learning a lot by starting this experience at La Grande Table marocaine. But it’s super exciting for me, it reminds me of when I was a young girl and I started learning my craft by joining Alain Ducasse in Monaco."

The six-star chef learned to make couscous in the Atlas Mountains. "For me, Moroccan cuisine is the mother. I learned to make couscous in the Atlas Mountains and I will always remember it. It’s the feeling of being with your grandmother, starting from nothing and learning every day. Everyone was around the grandmother, and her daughter-in-law was cooking with her, as well as her grandchildren. And when we shared lunch, my daughters were also present. It was a very strong moment. I was able to see that here, cooking is a women’s affair. I was also very surprised to find that there are women chefs in Morocco, maybe even more than in Paris or London."

The one who was elected "Best Female Chef in the World" in the prestigious The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking in 2015, remembers another learning experience: "One day at lunch, a young Moroccan chef told me that she would welcome me to her home to introduce me to her mother, because she was sure she could teach me a lot of things." This happened several times. The French chef cook says she also went to the medina and stopped at a place where all the families bring their bread to a wood-fired oven to bake it. "I started talking to the person in charge, and I saw that he had a tagine next to it, and he told me that he preferred his tagine to be made with lamb brains. I said to myself: ’Oh my God, I have to see that! That’s something I love’. So I asked him if one day I could come with him to see how he cooks it, and that will be one of my next experiences."

Delighted with this new experience, she plans to go to Fez, Tangier, and the south of the kingdom to learn from everywhere and everyone. "Preserved lemons, spice blends, so many flavors that I love and that I will put at the heart of La Grande Table marocaine. We want the citrus fruits, the herbs and the spices of Moroccan cuisine," enthuses the 56-year-old Frenchwoman.