From an inconspicuous friteria in central Lille, a busy kitchen serves up a conveyer belt of what have officially been named the world’s best French fries.
It was back in October 2023 that Aurèle Mestré – a former engineer – earned the title of the finest purveyor of French fries anywhere on the planet. Taking place in the town of Arras in northern France, It was the first World Championship dedicated to the humble frite and Aurèle was the man to land the inaugural prize.
Inevitably, he’s been very busy since – very busy indeed, with crowds of locals and visitors flocking to sample his world-beating skinny fried potatoes for himself.
Mestre’s route into food was far from traditional. After studying mechanical engineering in Lille, he worked as a design engineer, then later as a project manager. Then, after years of office toil (you could say his chips were down), he decided to leave his job in Soissons, return to Lille and start something of his own.
“I ended up questioning myself about the purpose of my job,” he said. “Most of my job was paperwork as this is a highly standardised industry and I didn’t like it.”
The idea came from a simple observation: Lille needed a truly good friterie. “I like to cook and I realised that there were no very good frying shop in Lille so I would do things differently,” he recalls.
At Friterie Mestré, the potatoes are sourced from around 20 kilometres away, with Bintje and Artemis varieties used depending on the season. They are peeled and cut in-house, unlike at many competitors where they tend to arrive frozen, precooked or vacuum-packed.
The cooking process is just as crucial. The fries are cooked twice – first at a lower temperature in sunflower oil, then at a higher temperature in beef fat to create a crisp outside and soft centre.
For the owner, great fries come down to the right potato, the right method and patience between the two separate cooking periods. It is a craft with a long history – rooted in northern French and Belgian food culture, where friteries remain a key part of everyday life.
If nothing else, Friterie Mestré shows how much care can go into something as familiar as a portion of fries.
Friterie Mestré, 305 Rue Leon Gambetta, Lille