Gérald Passedat (born 24 March 1960) is a French

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

, owner of the

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

''Le Petit Nice'' in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. He has three stars at the Guide Michelin since 2008.

Biography

Family

The grandfather of Gérald Passedat, Germain, was born in 1871 in the

Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn (river), Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its n ...

. After a training in

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

and

pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he created his company in

. He bought and sold several companies and rebought in 1917 the Villa Corinthe, next to the sea near the Château d'If and the Frioul archipelago and next to the hill of

Notre-Dame de la Garde Notre-Dame de la Garde (; : Titles of Mary, Our Lady of the Guard), known to local citizens as ''la Bonne Mère'' (French for 'the Good Mother'), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Basilicas in the Catholic Church, basilica in Marseille and the city ...

to create the restaurant ''Le Petit Nice''. His father Jean-Paul was born in 1933. Like his mother, he became an opera singer but also got interested in cuisine. In the 1960s, he decided to become a full-time chef and hotel owner. He transformed with his wife ''Le Petit Nice'' in a luxury hotel, which gave him the opportunity to receive a first

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

in 1977 and a second one in 1981. Jean-Paul Passédat also received the title of Chevalier of the National Order of Merit in 1988.

Childhood and training course

Gérald Passedat was born on 24 March 1960 in

. As a young child, he spent his time in the kitchens observing the work of his father and the housemaids. He decided to become a chef as well and followed a rich eight-year training course. *École Hôtelière of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Bougival Bougival () is a suburban commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is located west from the centre of Paris, on the left bank of the River Seine, on the departmental border with Hauts-de-Seine. In ...

* Le Bristol in

* Le Crillon in Paris *Restaurant of the Frères Troisgros in Roanne *''Les Prés d'Eugénie'' in Eugénie-les-Bains with Michel Guérard In 1985, he joined the kitchens of his father's restaurant ''Le Petit Nice''. He then became the chef in 1987 when his father became the manager of the hotel restaurant.

Cuisine

As an enthusiast of

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving (disambiguation), diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meani ...

, the cuisine of Gérald Passedat is composed of a number of steps and is mostly made of fish. It is also influenced by the

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

and especially

, for its different vegetables and herbs.

Forgotten fishes

His cuisine is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, where he finds with the help of fishermen from Marseille, fishes that are often forgotten like the tub gurnard, the

wrasse The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine ray-finned fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into nine subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, ...

or the comber. These fishes, fished all around Marseille, come from different areas deep underwater. In many of his dishes, the fish succeed to crustaceans and is conceived in a

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish, or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups ...

or a carcass

emulsion An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally Miscibility, immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloi ...

, without adding fat.

Desserts

His desserts are made to impress as much in the visual than in the taste. He and his pastry chef create desserts with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

liquorice Liquorice ( Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...

and all kinds of fruits. *Pink Pralines *Chocolate "Équateur" with raspberry vinegar

Signature dishes

Sea anemone Sea anemones ( ) are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemone ...

s in iodized cream, foamy milk with

caviar Caviar or caviare is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspi ...

, watercress broth and shellfish *

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Lucie Passedat *

Lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

with clarified ginger and purple abyssal *

Bouillabaisse Bouillabaisse ( , , ; ) is a traditional Cuisine of Provence, Provençal fish soup originating in the port city of Marseille. The word is originally a compound of the two Provençal verbs ('to boiling, boil') and ('to reduce heat', i.e. 'sim ...

Honours of ''Le Petit Nice'' and the Passedat family

*1977: one

(Jean-Paul Passedat) *1981: two Michelin stars (Jean-Paul Passedat) *1991: Jean-Paul Passedat is received at the Académie Nationale de Cuisine *2008: three Michelin stars *2010: Gérald Passedat is named Chevalier (Knight) of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

References

External links

Official site of Gérald Passedat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passedat, Gerald 1960 births French chefs French male chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Businesspeople from Marseille Knights of the Legion of Honour Living people