Au Relais des Ménétriers

Some destinies seem to be mapped out from childhood, not by words or ambitions, but by inherited scents, flavors, and gestures. Virginie Jacquet’s belongs to this rare category: that of a woman whose calling took shape between the vegetable gardens of a farm in the Ardennes and the kitchens of France’s most prestigious restaurants.

A rigorous training, a tour of France’s top restaurants

Encouraged by her parents and teachers, Virginie earned a CAP, then a vocational baccalaureate at the Bazeilles Hotel School, before obtaining a BTS Option B in 2003 at the Gérardmer Hotel School in the Vosges. Her first professional experience took her to Alsace, to the four-star Hôtel Europe in Horbourg-Wihr, where she cut her teeth and learned the basics of the trade and how to organize a kitchen team. Over five years, she rose through the ranks from apprentice to sous-chef—and, most importantly, met Anish Chourey, originally from India, who would become her life partner and culinary partner. Since then, they have formed a true culinary duo, working their way through France’s most prestigious establishments.

In 2007, the couple joined the Loiseau world for the first time, joining the kitchens of the Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, in the Côte-d’Or. Virginie started as a commis and rose to the position of fish chef. This two-year stint was a revelation. There, she learned to work with ingredients to enhance them without altering their essence and discovered what is known as the “Loiseau touch”: simplicity, clean and authentic flavors, and mastery of sauces.
She and Anish continued their gastronomic tour of France with method and ambition. A stint at La Côte Saint-Jacques in Joigny (Yonne), a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, allowed her to refine her technique. Next, they headed to Normandy, to La Ferme Saint-Siméon (Calvados), where she took the position of meat section chef: the establishment earned a Michelin star during their time there.

In 2013, the couple headed south. A new region opened up to them, with its Mediterranean influences and bold aromatics. Virginie worked at the legendary Moulin de Mougins (Alpes-Maritimes) as sous chef before taking the reins of the restaurant l’Estivale in Nice as head chef. This Provençal experience greatly enriched their culinary palette: the spices, herbs, and light of the South—which Anish instinctively mastered—brought a new dimension to their collaborative cooking.

The Return to Saulieu: Loiseau des Sens

In 2020, after seven years in the South, Virginie Jacquet and Anish Chourey returned to Burgundy. She was appointed head chef of the restaurant Loiseau des Sens, the health-and-pleasure restaurant of the Bernard Loiseau group, located on the first floor of the Villa Loiseau des Sens in Saulieu—a modern space built in 2017 as an extension of the Relais Bernard Loiseau, also housing a multi-award-winning spa, a seminar space, and a VIP spa suite. Anish joins her there as sous-chef. A smooth transition from Japanese chef Shoichi Ito, who had launched the restaurant when it first opened, marks this new beginning.

Born in India and trained in France’s most demanding kitchens, this chef with a unique background has, over the years and across various establishments, forged a deeply original culinary identity—at the crossroads of the flavors of his native country and the precision of haute French cuisine.

Indian Roots, a Global Calling

Anish Chourey hails from India, a country where spices, herbs, and millennia-old culinary techniques form the very fabric of daily life. It was with this precious sensory heritage that he arrived in France to train in the traditions of French gastronomy. The meeting of the aromatic depth of Indian cuisine and the technical precision of French cuisine would become central to his identity as a chef—a synergy that, over the years, would emerge as his signature style.

It was in Alsace, in the kitchens of the 4-star Hôtel Europe in Horbourg-Wihr, that Anish Chourey made a fateful encounter: that of Virginie Jacquet, a chef from the Ardennes who trained at the Gérardmer hotel school. Two chefs, two worlds, one shared passion. They quickly formed a professional and romantic partnership that would never part, moving from restaurant to restaurant—often Michelin-starred—for nearly two decades.

The Jacquet-Chourey duo is a rare phenomenon in French gastronomy: two talented chefs who move forward together, inspire one another, and build a culinary legacy as a team.

A Chef with a Deeply Rooted Philosophy

What sets Anish Chourey apart in the French gastronomic landscape is, above all, his discretion and depth. A rarity in a world where the chef’s ego often takes center stage, he embodies a collective vision of the craft: cooking as a team, with trust and mutual support. His Indian roots give him a special sensitivity for spices, herbs, and flavor contrasts that enrich each creation without ever weighing it down.

In the great establishments—Loiseau, Lorain, Moulin de Mougins—he has embraced the technical rigor of French haute cuisine without losing its soul. His cuisine is one of sincerity: local ingredients, respect for the seasons, dishes that tell a story—that of a man caught between two cultures, between two continents, between tradition and modernity.
In Ribeauvillé, in the heart of wine-growing Alsace, a few kilometers from Riquewihr and Colmar, Anish Chourey continues to write this beautiful story. A story made up of journeys, encounters, and flavors—a story best told at the table.