At Saisons – Cave à Manger in La Madeleine, just outside Lille, chefs Antoine Dacquin and Pierre Bleuzé have built a restaurant around friendship a shared love of seasonal cooking.
The pair, who both hail from Lille, met before opening Saisons together, bringing with them a deep passion and respect for local produce. In this interview, Antoine and Pierre share the story behind Saisons, their approach to local cooking and the dishes that return to the menu each year with a fresh twist.
Can you tell us about your journey as a chef and how you came to lead Saisons?
Saisons is, above all, the story of a friendship between Pierre and Antoine. We are two chefs who are passionate about cooking and who share the same values around eating well.
At Saisons, you will discover a cuisine made with local products, grown or raised in a responsible way. Pierre and I met in 2017, before opening Saisons five years ago.
How would you describe the food you serve at Saisons, and how does it reflect the distinctive cuisine of the local area?
Pierre and I put forward an instinctive cuisine that reflects who we are. It is guided by the product and by the desire to respect it as accurately as possible.
Our cuisine is about finding a balance between precision of gesture, generosity and bringing out the best that nature has to offer. The seasons dictate the inspiration for each change of dishes, and dishes stay on our menu for a maximum of three weeks.
It is a lively, generous and elegant cuisine, creating a link between the terroir, creativity and the pleasure of being at the table.
Does the restaurant have a signature dish with a story behind it, or any must-try dishes on the menu that you would especially recommend?
We actually have two or three “signature” dishes that we bring back at least once a year, while always making a few changes. We do not want to stay fixed in one place, because there is always something better to do.
Several combinations stand out at different times of the year, such as: turnips, yellow wine, sea lettuce and tagette; a dessert with white asparagus, fennel and sweetness; fermented winter carrots and new summer carrots, lobster sauce and sage; and our beetroot ravioli with egg yolk, langoustine and haddock
These dishes are moments in our year, and we always want to bring a different twist to them each year.
Finally, could you recommend three other restaurants in the city that you personally admire?
In Lille, we would recommend Helping Hand, Pulp and Ginko.