“People assume that I make tacos, well no, I make quenelle and pâté en croute,” laughs Miguel Garcia-Herrera, sprinkling each of his words with a warm Mexican accent, from which he comes from. At 27 and established in Lyon for several years, he is one of the sixteen candidates for the fourteenth season of Top chef, launched this Wednesday on M6. “For me, participating in the show is already a victory. I come from nothing, I built myself, little by little, and I’m proud of it,” he says.
At the age when one thinks about his destiny as an adult, he dreamed of French gastronomy. At 14, he was passionate about documentaries on French culinary art and eagerly immersed himself in the books of Auguste Escoffier… “I wanted to learn how to make sauces and work in a brigade, he underlines. My dad was in the military, so I know what a strict framework is. Rigor, I like it. »
“I was mobilized in Mali”
Nine years ago, he made the decision to settle in Europe. First in Spain, where he is not disoriented by the language. He works in Seville, in Cadiz, but his “ultimate goal” is to practice on the other side of the Pyrenees. So, “to get the papers”, he joined… the Foreign Legion. “I spent two years with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment in Calvi. I did 42 jumps at 400m. I was mobilized on the Barkhane operation in Mali and Vigipirate in the Ivory Coast, in Lyon and in Paris”, he lists until the evocation of his broken back, which will give him “the opportunity to work legally in France”.
Head to Lyon, not so much for its reputation as a stronghold of French gastronomy as out of love: this is where the woman who, five years ago, became his wife lives. “I started out in a Lyonnais plug, where I was trained in traditional, canaille cuisine,” explains Miguel. When he is not behind the stove, he continues to learn from books, especially those of Paul Bocuse.
Second chance
It was not long before he joined the Marguerite Bocuse restaurant in Lyon as chef de partie, before joining Le Bistrot d’Abel, then becoming chef at L’Astra. “The concept was cooking on a Japanese barbecue. This is where I started to bring in my influences with a cuisine that is half-French, half-Japanese-Mexican fusion, he says. I really do traditional Lyonnaise cuisine to which I sometimes incorporate elements such as jalapeños or coriander…” The establishment, which has not found its audience, closes its doors.
Miguel then returns to the Bistrot d’Abel where he joins, as sous-chef, the chef Bastien Depietri. “One day, someone said to me: ‘Why don’t you take part in Top chef ?” “Why not, but he doesn’t really believe in it. To such an extent that he fills out the form without adding a photo or CV. The production calls him, however, to give him a second chance by asking him to send the missing elements. This is what allowed him to pass the selection tests and join the cast of this new season. If he does not approach the competition as an obstacle course, he has already proven that he had a combative background.