Meet Dylan Vanmaele, the new restaurant service world champion

The young man admits, he “does not realize yet”. Dylan Vanmaele experienced a consecration at the end of October in Lucerne, Switzerland. The native of Strasbourg, 22, won the WorldSkills, which corresponds to the Olympic Games of trades. Against 21 opponents from all over the world, he was crowned restaurant service world champion. A first in forty-six years editions for France.

“I’m not a waiter, as I’ve sometimes read,” says the winner with a smile. “It seems a bit simplistic to me, because I’m also a butler, barista, sommelier and bartender. Confident without being pretentious, the former student of the hotel school in Illkirch-Graffenstaden (Bas-Rhin) knows where he wants to go and has always given himself the means to do so.

This is not his first title in the profession. Best apprentice in France in 2018, national champion young maître d’hôtel in 2018, then in Europe in the same field in 2019… In short, Dylan Vanmaele has been charting a starry career since he found his way. Far from stoves and other cooking pianos.

“Too talkative to stay in the kitchen”

“Originally, I had started in the kitchen but I was much too talkative to stay there,” he laughs. “I reoriented myself towards the restaurant because I like the sharing, the relational, the psychological side to be with the customers. And all the techniques you need to master. “Because the young man, of Japanese origin by his mother, is not really content to put the dishes on the table. Flambé, meat cuts, cocktail preparation and wine advice are also on his menu.

He was able to prove it during the “twenty-two hours of testing” at the WorldSkills. “For example, I had to prepare coffees ‘not just anyhow’, decant an Italian wine, taste others with comments from the sommelier, flambé prawns…” Not to mention the “cutting of a smoked salmon where you have to be able to read the newspaper through” and an “English service”. Which consists of holding a large dish in your left hand and serving the guests with the other. “He must have weighed around 2.5 kg, it was physical”, recalls the Alsatian, who was accompanied by a best worker in France, Pascal Obrecht, but also a mental coach. “Without them, I wouldn’t have made it. »

Setting up the table is also an art. – Himal Reece

Barely back, Dylan Vanmaele is already back in the room. His year in the protocol service of the city of Strasbourg ended, he joined the Maison Villeroy, a luxury private mansion in Paris. “I am a butler there, it allows me to touch on many areas”, appreciates the young man, “happy and fulfilled”. “It’s also a responsibility to carry this title of world champion,” he adds, gently mentioning one of his next goals. “Why not go to a big house abroad…” Generally, the Strasbourg player achieves his goals.

source site