Exclusive interview: New two-star Michelin chef Philippe Etchebest

French chef Philippe Etchebest is likely celebrating today after one of his restaurants, Maison Nouvelle in Bordeaux, was newly awarded two stars in the just-released Michelin Guide France 2025.

It is one of only nine restaurants to achieve the Michelin accolade of two stars in this year’s guide (two restaurants received three stars this year, and 57 were awarded one star).

The Michelin Guide stated that Chef Etchebest “continues to refine his generous culinary offering, which is most evident in his renowned mushroom ravioli and his reinterpretation of entrecôte Bordelaise”. 

It also praised the chef for having won the restaurant’s second star within three years of winning the first (one of just six restaurants to do so this year).

The new France guide was unveiled on Monday, March 31 at the Metz Convention Centre in Metz, north of Nancy. 

All the starred chefs in France were invited, as well as some who are considered likely to receive stars in the future.

A total of 78 new stars were awarded this year.

The Connexion interviewed Chef Etchebest in 2023, covering everything from comparisons to British chef Gordon Ramsay to the pandemic’s effect on restaurants, to becoming a household name on Top Chef, M6’s popular cooking show, over eight seasons (and counting).

Here is the 2023 interview in full:

‘Cook what you like: any recipe can be reinvented’

Getting an interview with top TV chef Philippe Etchebest is not easy considering the many hats (or should that be toques, the French name for ‘chef’s hat’?) he wears, and the accompanying busy schedule.

For anyone who watches French television, Mr Etchebest will feel more like a family member than just a familiar face, having been on the box every Wednesday night at 21:10 from early March to the middle of June for the past eight years. 

For all that time, Philippe Etchebest has been one of the chefs on Top Chef, M6’s popular cooking show, advising, encouraging, and entertaining candidates. 

You may also have seen him in Cauchemar à l’hôtel (Nightmare at the Hotel) or Cauchemar en cuisine (Nightmare in the Kitchen), also on M6 and inspired by Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. 

Much like Gordon Ramsay, Mr Etchebest also owns restaurants in Bordeaux, Maison Nouvelle and Le Quatrième Mur, which faces Le Pressoir d’Argent, owned by... Gordon Ramsay. 

Also like Mr Ramsay, he has produced cookbooks and grown a nationwide fanbase. 

Mr Etchebest has earned this following by being approachable and helping many French people to become better cooks, one quiche at a time. 

In many ways, you could say he is the French Gordon Ramsay. 

But Mr Etchebest has donned a bigger apron recently, by defending on mainstream television the restaurant owners and industry workers crippled with debt because of the pandemic.

“The situation requires resilience, flexibility, and strength. This is part of our job as chefs. We constantly reinvent ourselves, but sometimes it’s more complicated,” he said.

He is also a chef who is happy to speak to anyone. 

He has carefully avoided the elitism associated with French cuisine, an attitude that wrongly equates sophistication with superiority over the masses despite being chef of two restaurants, a TV personality, a politically aware public figure, and a drummer.

Who are you exactly, M. Etchebest?

I am Philippe Etchebest, chef, and Meilleur Ouvrier de France (laughs). 

My main job is being a chef. Everything else is leisure. I have been on TV for the last 12 years, which needs a little organisation in order not to overshadow my main activities, in other words, being the chef of two restaurants. 

Drumming is a hobby. But it’s also a way to let off steam. 

You are often presented as Gordon Ramsay’s alter ego. 

Do you think that’s a fair comparison?

I understand why it happens, because Cauchemar en cuisine is the French version of his show Hell’s Kitchen. But we are very different people. 

I had the chance to meet him when he opened Le Pressoir d’Argent in Bordeaux, right opposite my restaurant Le Quatrième Mur. It was a very pleasant encounter, in which we shared our mutual experiences on Hell’s Kitchen.

A bit like you, is his image different from the TV personality?

The situations in our own restaurants and in the TV restaurants we use for the shows are different. 

Sometimes the cooks I help in Cauchemar en cuisine need a short, sharp shock to learn. 

It may look harsh from time to time, but I also try to counter this with care and empathy. 

In my own restaurants, I choose who I want to work with and I train them. It is completely different.

There are many British chefs. How do you explain the gap between their expertise and the reality of cooking culture in Britain? A lot of French people think Brits make horrible food... 

Well… as for French people thinking it’s ‘horrible’, I think that each country, hopefully, has cooking traditions that suit the tastes of the people there – the ones who are eating it. 

I used the British dish of fish and chips in a recipe for my latest book. So you see there are some meals that cross the Channel in that direction.

Is there an element of British cuisine that you envy?

(Laughs) I do not envy anything, simply because my knowledge of British cuisine is very limited. 

I would argue that reducing British cuisine simply to fish and chips is unfair. 

But there is nothing else really that comes to mind. France is lucky to have a huge terroir and a strong gastronomic culture. I just want to say cocorico! (cock-a-doodle-doo!)

You have released a new book of 100 easy and affordable recipes. What was your ambition behind this particular project?

To help people get joy and pleasure from cooking every day, and to show that cooking is easy and can be done on a budget. 

It teaches a real process for cooking, from organising the fridge and kitchen cabinets to choosing tools for the job. 

With the right equipment and methods, anyone can become a good cook. These are recipes I have made many times, in the easiest way possible. 

They are also adaptable, allowing cooks to add any ingredients they like. Each recipe is shown with a video on my YouTube channel.

Do you think that it is easy to cook?

It is if you give yourself the means and have the dedication. I am here to facilitate people in becoming better cooks. I am just a guide.

Was the project motivated by the economic difficulties following Covid?

I remember food critic Jean-Pierre Coffe published Le plaisir à petit prix in 2010 after the 2008 economic crisis. 

The idea was actually simmering away well before the crisis because of the demand from viewers on my YouTube channel. 

The same words kept coming up in the recipe requests I was getting: ‘easy’, ‘cheap’, ‘everyday ingredients’. 

I wanted to highlight the importance of seasonal food, because you get the best deals on produce that’s in season. A meal can become very expensive if it uses ingredients that aren’t in season.

Does it boil down to being very organised then?

Organisation, enthusiasm, and good equipment. The recipes in some cookbooks are easy, but only if you have expensive machines to do the job. 

I show people how you can cook without all the luxury kit. You don’t need all that. With three knives, a set of four saucepans, a whisk, and a ladle, anyone can cook marvellous things.

You have taken on more of a political role since Covid by raising awareness of the hardships small restaurant owners faced during the pandemic. What is the state of French gastronomy right now?

I do not court a political career. I fight for what I think is important. 

It is true that during Covid I would not have been able to look myself in the eye if I had not done something about the situation. Clowning around on TV is one thing, but I am a fighter when it comes down to it. 

There is nothing political about this. I was worried about my business and thought my voice could be one of those that you don’t often hear in the political arena. That is part of who I am (laughs).

French cuisine is on a knife-edge. The economy has been shaken up by an increase in prices, from energy, wages, and raw materials. 

Price hikes have created a gloomy environment that keeps clients away from restaurants.

The crisis is still on everyone’s mind, considering most entrepreneurs and small business owners have to pay back their state-guaranteed loans. 

This was a condition of their survival during the pandemic. The situation requires resilience, flexibility, and strength. 

This is part of our job as chefs. We constantly reinvent ourselves, but sometimes it’s more complicated.

As you said on BFMTV, workers have no desire to live on benefits, and want to make a living from work. Yet many working people cannot make ends meet. How would you describe the French cuisine scene [in this context]?

(Thinks for a couple of seconds). French cuisine has a reservoir of young and passionate cooks. 

I see it in my TV shows. The future is bright. It needs, however, to be put in the spotlight.

 There is still a burning desire for tradition and collaboration that will ensure France remains a gastronomic powerhouse. 

It was, however, only ranked ninth in the TasteAtlas awards last year, a ranking I reminded President Macron about at the Salon de l’Agriculture.

Restaurants need more transparency regarding the origins of the ingredients they use.

Every type of restaurant should make it clear on their menus what is mass-produced and what is homemade. 

This is why Italy ranks first. Because restaurants there display this, giving clients the information they need to choose. 

I am not saying one is better than the other, but this product information needs to be displayed.

Are you still surprised by Top Chef’s popularity, and what this says about the relationship French people have with cooking?

It’s a good relationship and long may it last! 

I am still surprised at the show’s success. Fourteen seasons (Editor’s note: he joined in season six) and the level of engagement is still outstanding.

You put cream in carbonara pasta, cheese in quiche, and make crème brûlée without vanilla. Is this what French cuisine is now – letting go of rules, conventions and traditions?

Yes, because it is about cooking what you like. Any recipe can be reinvented. I know carbonara has no cream. I know quiche has no cheese. But I put them in because I like them