He is one of the greatest French chefs as well as the owner of many starred restaurants in France. The head chef Thierry Marx is the guest of Bixente Lizarazu in the program “Planète Liza”. He looks back on his journey which allowed him to become a reference starred chef in France.
A difficult and quarrelsome childhood
Having grown up in the 20th arrondissement of Paris and in the Parisian suburbs, Thierry Marx confides in his rather difficult and quarrelsome childhood.
Dropped out at age 13 from his school in the Bois-l’Abbé district of Champigny sur Marne, Thierry Marx could have taken the wrong direction as a teenager if he had followed some of his friends. If he admits that we can “follow the first guru who passes“, Thierry Marx reveals what saved him: judo practice among friends whom he took very seriously. He dreamed of high-level fights.
In college, I don’t understand the system. Fortunately, the educational framework of sport will catch up with me.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazu, the guest takes pleasure in talking about his passion for martial arts in general who has followed him since childhood, thanks to the Judo club of Champigny-sur-Marne with four friends. He also joined the Compagnons du Devoir and was able to participate in a Tour de France as an apprentice pastry chef. The guest tells his passing through the armya path that attracted him, but which did not end well: “I ended up in pieces“. Before embarking on the adventure, he was told: “If you want to see the country, get involved.”
I liked the brotherhood of arms very much.
After passing through the army, Thierry Marx took his flight abroad : he is looking for his way. It was in Sydney, Australia, that he became a pastry chef. While he does “only loaves of bread“, he is offered to work in the banquet service. “As you are French, you must necessarily know the kitchen“, he was told. The guest now laughs: “It was completely nonsense.“
Back in France, he wishes to obtain the CAP diplomabut a chief tells him that it is useless: “You have to work with a big name in the kitchen.“
On a Tour de Francethe future chef had the opportunity to have lunch with the renowned Bernard Loiseau. A personality that inspired the young Thierry: “If I have to do this job, I have to do it like him.“This lunch served as a springboard for him to then obtain a position as a commis chef, but not in the way one might expect. In a Parisian restaurant where Thierry Marx is a candidate, the latter replies that he is coming”from Bernard Loiseau” when asked where he comes from. No one could have guessed that he was coming out of a lunch and not the kitchens. That’s enough for the apprentice to start the next day.
Many starred restaurants managed “in conscience”
Today, Thierry Marx runs many starred restaurants. It will open next May new restaurant“Madame Brasserie” on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The cook defends a management of his restaurants “in conscience“, in particular on the ecological issues and social.
I always try to grow my business, but I do it with a lot of awareness.
Bixente’s guest Lizarazu is also one of the pioneers of molecular gastronomyhe notably participated in the creation of the dishes of the astronaut Thomas Pésquet when he lived on the International Space Station.