From her childhood spent in Senegal, she keeps the memory of family recipes she liked revisiting with her own personal twist. A self-taught and curious woman, she held one sous-chef position after the other, quickly acquiring command over her knowledge in fine dining. In 2016, after falling in love with the place on 72, quai des Orfèvres, she set herself the challenge of turning it into a fine dining establishment.
“I love beautiful products, fine and delicate associations. It’s in nature and its beauty that I find many of my inspirations.”
“Cooking is a way to share, to create togetherness. It’s my field of artistic expression. It seems to me it could be practiced ad infinitum. The starting point can often be a vegetable, a spice or an herb. Through trial and error, I aim for the preciseness and balance of flavours in each of my dishes.”
“A lover of dance, I often compare my cuisine to kizomba (which means “party” in Kimbundu), because to me, cooking is dancing, everything spins around me, pans, whisks, spoons, ingredients, fire. I love the exhilarating moment of putting together a plate, when I give it tempo, rhythm or swing.”
“I like to renew my menu often and try new associations of flavours or textures.”
It used to be called “Au Rendez-vous des Camionneurs” (the truck drivers’ meeting place). A historical restaurant in a magnificent space, in the heart of Paris on the Île de la Cité, facing the Pont-Neuf, it bears since 2016 the name of the nymph of the springs of the Seine, Sequana.