Chef Patron Gilles Goujon is an extraordinary man. He is a living proof of how everyone can beat the odds if they have got talent above anything else and are prepared to work day and night. Chef Goujon had a dream and that was to become a great chef. He has become one of the foremost chefs in the world and a visit to his Auberge du Vieux Puits is a must for any food lover.

Auberge du Vieux Puits is tucked away, far far away from any well-known city deep south in France. You will have to drive for hours from any nearby city deep into the Languedoc-Roussillon region before you finally arrive in the small town of Fontjoncouse. With a population of just a bit over 100 and surrounded by mountains on the countryside this should not be the obvious place for one of the best restaurants in the world. Fate thought otherwise when the mayor of Fontjoncouse gave Gilles Goujon a call and wondered if he would like to run Auberge du Vieux Puits after it had gone bankruptcy for the third time. Gilles Goujon and his wife Marie-Christine had been looking desperately for a location to have their own restaurant in so the timing was excellent, but it was not a smooth ride to create something extraordinary from what in good manners could be called the ruins of a restaurant in bad shape. Thanks to a determination beyond words and an amazing relation between Gilles and Marie-Christine they have made the impossible fully possible and created one of the finest restaurants on the planet.

The Goujons took over Auberge du Vieux Puits in 1992 and they had to struggle for years before they had any business what so ever. The simple reason was no guests. Thanks to a television program in 1995 and the fact that the rumour about the amazing chef in Fontjoncouse started to spread, the business went better and better and so did Chef Goujon’s skills which just became more fulfilled by the years. Today France can be proud of yet another master chef.

The cuisine is based on a traditional foundation, but Chef Goujon is not afraid of choosing his own path, with original recipes based on the most amazing ingredients available. Auberge du Vieux Puits will always be about the food. The Chef’s “rotten” egg with “melano” black truffles on a wild mushroom and truffle purée served together with warm truffled “brioche” and mushrooms juice cappuccino is one of the most intelligent and delicious dishes ever created. It is highly complex and innovative, but most of all, your taste buds will pray to you for the rest of your life to have it again and again.

Auberge du Vieux Puits has a Chef with more integrity than the highest mountains and he is not afraid of doing his own thing. To serve a roasted in fat sliced veal kidney together with onion in salt crust and wasabi cream as the main dish in a tasting menu proves just how much integrity this chef has got. Chef Patron Gilles Goujon is one of the most amazing chefs ever lived and it is mandatory for all who consider themselves gourmets to do at least an annual pilgrimage to the food temple of Auberge du Vieux Puits.

Written by Andy