Restaurant
In Metz, the La Réserve restaurant welcomes gourmets in an imposing 16th century building. The former food store of the fortress now houses the elegant MGallery hotel and a gourmet restaurant.
Latest edition : 13 July 2021
More than 500 years after its construction, when a large part of the fortress has disappeared, the old food store is still there and has come back to life in the excellent restaurant, La Réserve. Cleverly studied lighting, a light oak parquet floor and the white walls highlight the blond stone of the magnificent centuries-old vaults. One-to-one tables, alcoves, round tables, invite you to take the time to taste the excellent cuisine of Aurélien Person.
Just seeing it, you know you're going to eat well! Smiling, he exudes the joy of living, including good food! “I've always liked to eat well, and after a very first internship, I was determined to become a cook. Much more than a job, it has become a real passion,” explains the chef with conviction. After the hotel school in Verdun, he spent a few seasons in the mountains and on the coast, always choosing beautiful houses. Internships in Paris allow him to improve on several facets of the profession. In 2006, he joined the starred chef Christophe Dufossé at the Citadelle, and climbed all the levels to become executive chef during the reorganization and the departure of Christophe Dufossé.
The La Réserve restaurant at the MGallery La Citadelle hotel has changed direction. A restaurant with quality cuisine but with a more bistro spirit, to encourage a wider audience to open its doors without complexes. "I don't want a stilted cuisine that is accessible to everyone," explains Aurélien Person. “I want to bring emotion with simple but obviously quality products. What should speak is on the plate”.
With a butcher grandfather and a farmer father, he knows good products! As far as possible, he gets his supplies from selected regional producers: fruit and vegetables, snails, cheeses, charcuterie, poultry and meat. “I work with a cattle breeder who provides me with a Limousin cross-bred Black Angus that melts under the tongue,” enthuses the chef who defines his cuisine as “gourmet, generous and light at the same time, respecting the seasons. We therefore only offer scallops from October to May. We buy the whole shells and my greatest pleasure is to open them! We lighten dishes, so the duck is confit in the juice.”
To make the place livelier, the new bar Le 1559, a nod to the date of construction of La Citadelle, occupies a central place. To accompany the cocktails of bartender Grégory Schneider, the Aurélien Person team offers a board of tapas, charcuterie, chicken keftas, duck spring rolls or even cod and cod acras. “Cod for strength, cod to make them juicier and lighter. »
The key to Aurélien Person's success? “Offering cuisine that makes me happy, with a quality that I like to find in a restaurant. And a motivated team without which nothing is possible! Transmitting my know-how is another of my pleasures in the kitchen. »
That's it, all you have to do is sit down at one of the tables in this timeless restaurant, and let yourself be surprised by the chef's creativity! However, we will make sure to keep a place for a dessert by pastry chef Quentin Nollez who can also boast of a fine professional career with passages at Bernard Loiseau in Sauilieu, at the Château de Courcelles in the Aisne or at the Cassine castle in Creuse. He revealed to us the recipe for his signature dessert: Stanislas baba with mirabelle plum . Irresistible !
Restaurant La Réserve
Hotel MGallery La Citadelle
5 avenue Ney
5700 Metz
Tel. 03 87 17 17 17