Laurent Couturier, Nature’s chef.

The appeal of la Cueillette.

If you rise early in the morning you just may spot him scanning the hillsides or woods with a handful of fresh picked herbs to add to his basket.

His language? Music of aromas, fugue of savours for a pastoral composition of hymns to the palate with perfectly achieved improvisations. Laurent Couturier has in fact tickled the keys of some of the
great ranges and stoves of France. At a young age he had already mastered sol-fa at the celebrated 3 star restaurant of Chagny Jacques Lameloise, not to mention his mastery of composition learned chez
Guy Savoy, Michel Rostang and at the Tour Rose.

A style is born; an exquisite cuisine with seasonal nuances and subtle surprises, inspired by his passion for herbs, decoctions, sauce reductions, cooking in two stages… This culinary alchimist was attributed his first Michelin star at the Château d’Igé in 1997. In 2003, Jean Ducloux of Greuze in Tournus, a well-known establishment of ‘la haute cuisine française’, chose our chef to succeed him.
From there he went on to compose at the Château de Chailly.

Magician of the 5 senses

In 2011, Laurent Couturier gave thumbs up to the audacious project behind Château de Cîteaux,
spotting an occasion to evolve in a magnificent chateau where he can express his personal poetry and creativity with the help of a select team. His own dream of coordinating a menu primarily of vegetables could finally come true. La Cueillette offered the perfect set up for this master of savours!
“Whatever Nature provides, I’ll cook”, he’s often heard saying. And just hearing him announce his menu for the day is a true appeal to all one’s senses: shelled egg set in a cradle of foam, heirloom vegetable tart with no crust, roast duck à la gentian, juice of quinquina root with chutney of figues and nuts…

“ My cooking prones toward vitality which is what I’ll pursue by replacing animal fats with lighter,
more disgestible soya milk or soya lecithin which are excellent elements for aromatic decoctions.”
Plants and herbs are picked when the morning dew is still present, then worked into a juice or dish.
Nothing is overdone; each plant is selected to highlight or give a particular accent to a dish.

Laurent Couturier coordinates both the fine dining restaurant and Le Potager bistrot menus.

A terroir, two styles of cooking, enough to offer a full symphony of rich Burgundian produce, imbued with tradition and savours.

Don’t be surprised if you see winter squash whispering to plants along a narrow path. At the crack of dawn the chef himself speaks to them of decoction, fusion, infusion… while composing his pastoral
programme of hymns to be served with all delicate intentions to please your eyes and palate at lunch or dinner.