We’re warned: Louise Bourrat isn’t “very connected”. And the rumor is confirmed. Candidate for Top Chef season 13, the 26-year-old chef is far from addicted to his phone and very good. “I’m not very tech-savvy. That is, I have yet to apply to my bank, said the young chef. I kept physically going to the bank like an old timer and everyone laughed at me. »
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Last woman in the competition
After a BTS hotel, a stint at Ducasse and Mandarin Oriental, the young chef flew to Latin America before settling in Portugal where he headed the “Boubou’s” restaurant in Lisbon. Louise Bourrat participated in the Top Chef competition, to “get out of her comfort zone”, as she told us in an interview in March.
The only woman still in competition, a chef committed to “zero waste” and a feminist, Louise surrounds herself with the women in control of her restaurant – even if a boy has just joined the ranks – and aroused gender inequality in the profession and in Portugal. “The guys I work with in the kitchen have a hard time accepting that I’m a girl, younger than them,” she told us.
Notifications every 4 minutes
More comfortable with a spatula in hand than his phone, the chef still lives with the times. Given the management of a restaurant today, it is impossible for him to ignore “ZenChef”. The French application allowed him to manage reservations and look at the reviews left by customers. Always caught up in the sound of “I receive it every 4 minutes” notifications, the application allowed him to always contact the restaurant. Since the start of the Top Chef adventure, Louise admits: “The restaurant is always full so I don’t look anymore, I know it’s full. »
And who claims to be famous, has to say that there are a lot of comments – more or less sympathy – from fans of the show defending their loved ones or knocking down other candidates using tweets. “I’ve never set foot on Twitter and it’s not a good idea to go there,” said Louise, who prefers “self -protection”. “Criticism is always a pain even when your head is on your shoulders, so I don’t risk being bitten,” the chef said. The only account on the platform that found favor in his eyes? “Top Chef’s Instagram account but that’s it. »
“I choose to be connected to life”
The social network recognized by many chefs, Instagram has even become “the place to be” if you want to showcase your culinary talents. Louise managed her restaurant’s Instagram account during the pandemic – nearly 14,000 subscribers – but “it’s clear to me that it’s work, skill and time that I don’t have”, the chef lamented.
“Days are 24 hours long and my job is to cook, so I don’t always have my phone. I can spend time but I prefer to use it to connect with life and enjoy my free time to meditate, read a book or take care of my plants, ”explains Louise who insists,“ I try to have a healthy relationship. on my phone because I know I’m already spending a lot of time on it ”.
“Nobody cared that I went to eat steak tartare”
To take pictures of dishes, for example. A few days later, he immortalized the dish he had just eaten at a restaurant in Lisbon. “Fermented broccoli with fermented honey. It was with a Brazilian chef. I take advantage of doing a little publicity for them so they know a little more, even if I don’t think they need me. It’s a partnership between the restaurateurs, ”the chef explained. Even if he assured her that “I’m not good at taking photos, I tried, but the result was so bad that I didn’t have to post it”.
In her photo library, Louise primarily has snapshots of her dishes for her personal archives, “to have a frame and see how they progress over time”. Post photos of her eating on Instagram? “I did it and I told myself I had to post it but I told myself‘ nobody cares I ate a steak tartare ’”, the chef laughed.
Spotify in the kitchen
If she loses her phone tomorrow, Louise is far from bothered, on the contrary, “I lose it all the time, I’ve already spent a month without it and it really isn’t a problem for me”, she confessed. . But there’s still an application he loves and uses every day in the kitchen, regardless of his work: “My spotify account is the thing I worry about around the world, no doubt he said.” If others prefer to mention their given address book, their memorable text messages or their souvenir photos, Louise will be confused by the loss of her music subscription. “I’ve had it for a long time, it’s phew calibrated, it’s the most precious thing in my eyes on my phone,” he insists.
A huge fan of music – almost like cooking -, Louise Bourrat confessed that once at the restaurant, “I had a little back in rock, I listened to old Red Hot Chili Peppers albums” during in place. in service. But the music line at his restaurant is above all “universal”. “A good Artic Monkey, Manu Chao, these kinds of groups or artists bring together different generations, people of different nationalities. Because of the restaurant culture we are very different, but in music, we are always seen the similarities ”.