Words by Smiley Team
Pierre-André Aubert is the chef behind Europe’s first ever solar-powered restaurant. Hidden in a leafy corner of the city of Marseille, France, is the eatery – sitting on 2,700 square metres of land.
In the restaurant, you’ll find a stove powered by a ‘Scheffler Mirror’ and a tank of water heated by the sun to be used for cooking and cleaning. Le Présage, which opened in April 2021, truly is one of a kind.
“It was important for me to create Europe’s first solar powered restaurant because by doing this, we’re opening people’s minds to a bright and delightful future,” chef Pierre-André tells Smiley News.
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Pierre-André explains how his stove is made of a cast iron plate that's heated in its centre by the sun at around 400°C. “We have a hotspot on the plate which allows us to cook in a pan like if it was over a burner and by moving away the pan across the plate, we can decrease the heat that goes to the pan as the plate is cooler on its border than on its centre,” he explains.
He also uses another tool – a cylindric oven that allows him to cook just like in a static oven, and reaches about 250°C at max.
“Thanks to our set-up, almost any meal can be cooked at our solar restaurant but we tend to cook recipes that don't need a lot of energy – for example, pasta, which we would need to boil a lot of water for first,” says Pierre-André.
He also cooks with seasonal products – “I love to cook tomatoes in the summer and would happily turn to root vegetables when autumn and winter comes... I love to cook vegetables and herbs cause there's such a variety! Of course, we're also cooking fish and meat at the restaurant but they're not the shinning stars."
The customers are enthusiastic, says Pierre-André, because the food is good. “Indeed, that's the first thing to achieve, to cook delightful meals! And then, the customers are surprised how we work with the sun and finally how easy it is!"
Find out more about the restaurant on its website.
