The chef, originally from Benin, who was unveiled 13 years ago in the French TV show “MasterChef”, was awarded a star on Monday, March 6 in Strasbourg, during the 2023 Michelin Guide ceremony, a directory and gastronomic guide for hotels and tourists.
Unveiled from Alsace, during an exceptional ceremony at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès in Strasbourg, the Michelin Guide France 2023 recommends 630 starred restaurants, including 29 three stars, 75 two stars and 526 one star, spread throughout France.
The restaurant where Georgiana Viou is the chef is called “Rouge” and is located in the Margaret – Hotel Chouleur in Nîmes. It is one of the 39 new restaurants recommended with a Michelin star. “Self-taught chef Georgiana Viou of Beninese origin has also been awarded a MICHELIN star for her restaurant Rouge, where she offers a variety of dishes that combine Mediterranean and African flavors,” said the renowned Michelin Guide.
More than ever, Georgiana Viou is magnifying Mediterranean cuisine, which she has enriched with personal accents from her childhood in Benin and the recipes passed down imperceptibly from her grandmother Georgette and her mother Romaine, who ruled the household, in the happy bosom of her family.
Self-taught chef
Georgiana Viou was born on November 10, 1977 in Cotonou, Benin. In 1999, while dreaming of becoming a conference interpreter, she left her native country and pursued her studies in foreign languages at the Sorbonne.
After getting a job in a communication agency in Marseille, Georgiana Viou made a remarkable entry into the world of gastronomy during several culinary competitions. In 2008, she participated in the show “Un Dîner Presque Parfait” on the French TV channel “M6”. In 2009, she placed third in the culinary prize “Taittinger des Cordons Bleus”, before her revelation to the general public in 2010, in the first season of MasterChef, where she finished as a finalist
A self-taught chef, Georgiana Viou honed her technique by working in various gourmet restaurants in France in great Provencal and Parisian houses, such as Villa Khariessa, Itinéraires or Maison Kaiseki. Chefs such as Lionel Levy or Yves Camdeborde helped her to carve out her path.
Entrepreneur
In 2011, Georgiana Viou decides to fly on her own. She opened “L’Atelier de Georgiana”, in Marseille, where she offers a cuisine rooted in the Mediterranean and enlivened by Beninese touches. In addition, cooking classes are given by service providers, while the chef offers a lunch formula in a table d’hôtes and open kitchen version. In 2015, Georgiana Viou opened the restaurant “Chez Georgiana” where she cooks fresh products and a menu that evolves daily at lunchtime. In the evening, the chef serves a 6-course tasting menu. In 2016, she wrote the menu for Florent Manaudou’s restaurant “La Piscine” in Marseille.
Her universe attracts the attention of Gault & Millau, which twice awards two toques to her establishments and selects her among the Young Talents 2015.
Georgiana Viou has joined the team at ROUGE, the restaurant and bar of the Margaret Hôtel Chouleur in Nîmes, when it opens in June 2021. In this former private mansion classified as a historical monument, she will magnify the Gard region with François Josse, pastry chef and 2018 French Dessert Champion, and Suzanne Cochran, sommelier, at her side. In 2021, while blossoming at ROUGE, Georgiana Viou received the prestigious “Grand de Demain” 2022 trophy, a consecration once again awarded by the Gault & Millau guide. In 2023, the restaurant obtained 1 star in the MICHELIN Guide.
An invitation to a gastronomic journey
“ROUGE” is the result of a meeting between Georgiana and Denis Allegrini, the entrepreneur and restaurateur behind the project. The name “ROUGE” is an echo of the common color of their homelands: Benin on one side and, on the other, the Costières region which blossoms between vineyards and orchards. This color, warm and greedy, is the image of Nîmes, its coat of arms and its local and culinary heritage. It is also found in the Beninese flag. “In a warm decor where marble and brass mingle with the softness of wood and velvet, Georgiana and her team invite you on a gastronomic journey. An exploration that gives pride of place to local products, spiced up with condiments and flavors from elsewhere,” we learned.
In an interview with The House of Africa, Georgiana Viou describes her cooking as “grilled, sometimes raw, smoked, sometimes simmered or fermented, but “mostly alive.” “As I write it down, I realize that it’s a lot of cooking from my childhood. There are always herbs, artisanal palm oil, sometimes citrus and often garlic, ginger, pepper, chili and always olive oil,” she shared.
If Georgiana Viou regularly likes to share emblematic recipes from Benin like the Gari Foto of her childhood, the chef likes to marry influences at Rouge. This is evidenced by her Calamars du Grau with natural palm oil made in Benin, nettle, hazelnut and potato; but also her Muge with kimchi or the mackerel that she works with vegetables from the garden.
Georgiana Viou is the author of “Ma cuisine de Marseille”, published in 2011 (Hervé Chopin Editions) and the beautiful “Le goût de Cotonou. Ma cuisine du Bénin” in 2021 (Ducasse Edition).
