By Victor Massias
Published on
updated on 29 Mar 22 at 9:43
The atmosphere is particularly lively, at the moment, in the kitchens of Pizza Bona. The three cooks of the Lillebonnais restaurant are preparing to take part in the French pizza championship. They are the only ones Seine Maritime, This year. Waiting to get off at Paris for the national final, on March 30 and 31, 2022, they spend their afternoons together, refining their respective recipes.
Not a first for the boss
Jimmy Pestel, the manager of the establishment, is working on a revisited pesto pizza. He is the most experienced of the band. Above all because he has been kneading dough for about ten years: “I started at Domino’s, it gave me a good base. Even though it’s not a traditional pizza, they still spread by hand. Then, I worked in Paris in a Neapolitan pizzeria. Also because he has already participated in the competition in 2020.
A taste of Georgia
The competition, he likes that. In a totally different register, it reminds him of judo. He is also very good friends with the Le Havre judoka of Georgian origin Luka Mkheidze, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics. The anecdote takes on its full meaning when we learn that Jimmy Pestel will be going to the French pizza championships with his wife, Vériko, Luka’s sister. The world is small !
The Georgian, who has been working at Pizza Bona with her husband since 2019, plans to “revisit the margherita, but with the ingredients that are used a lot in my country”. She works on a base of cherry tomatoes, feta – “which looks like our Georgian cheese” -, mint, lime, currants, powdered sugar and parmesan.
I try to do something very simple because I know that at the competition there are people with much more training and experience than me. I wouldn’t want to do an unprofessional job or break a recipe.
And then, the couple will take Thibaud Gloaguen with him. Fascinated by food trades since childhood, the 21-year-old young man got into pizza a bit by accident. After internships in delicatessens, butchers and restaurants, the Local Mission told him that Pizza Bona was looking for a pizza maker. He was hired in September and will prepare his raspberry duck pizza.
If he admits not putting himself “more pressure than that”, his boss Jimmy does not consider the podium as an unattainable objective: “It would be the Holy Grail! »
Practical information :
Pizza Bona, 2 rue Victor Hugo – 76170 Lillebonne
Tel : 02 35 39 79 14
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