The chef
One man’s story
Lalaina Ravelomanana, a self-taught Malagasy Chef fearing nothing and always ready to give his best. Madagascar’s most renowned Chef, a disciple of Auguste Escoffier who has already won 9 international awards, honoured by being the first African Chef inducted into the prestigious Académie Culinaire de France in 2010, has created from scratch an outstanding gourmet restaurant : Marais Restaurant
The story of a challenge
With over eleven years’ experience in the most famous restaurant of Antananarivo, capital of the red island, Lalaina decided to compete for the International Catering Cup, an upscale gourmet cookery competition: creating a majestic four-course meal and highlighting a buffet. A challenge that needed 1 year to prepare and find sponsors.
The story of a meeting
That’s when Lalaina Ravelomanana met Alexandre Guerrier, Christophe and Delphyne Dabezies, three energetic, passionate French entrepreneurs who settled in Madagascar in the late 90s, specialising in luxury garments for global fashion houses, and more recently founders of the Maison Rova Caviar, the first Caviar in Africa and the Indian Ocean
A gamble that paid off
This prestige competition, held at the Sirha des Chefs in Lyon, requires unparalleled work on a particular delicacy, trout. But there aren’t any trout in Madagascar… So Delphyne, Christophe and Alexandre introduced him to the sturgeon, a mythical fish going back over 200 million years and well known for its caviar. Months of hand-to-hand combat with the animal followed as he learnt how to cook this most noble of dishes - in rings, steamed, roasted, etc. A long-term task that promoted Lalaina into the top rank of great Chefs.
The top prize
In 2015, Lalaina Ravelomanana won the "Best Catering Buffet in the World" award from the International Catering Cup. An award that was confirmed in 2017 with the honour of being selected as the coach to build a team competing in the final. A challenge to train for excellence that followed Lalaina in his future plans.
See the chef's career