Lisa Roche & Léo Troisgros, the future of hospitality as a present

Portrait of a couple who reinvent the inn without folklore or reverence

How do you recognize a large table? For the author of these lines, this is due to his ability to make people want to come back — and quickly. We had not yet left the Colline du Colombier and, already, we promised ourselves to reserve again, for other seasons, to bite into other facets: autumn and its hunting, summer and its sun-drenched vegetables. La Colline du Colombier is not a restaurant like any other: it's an address you fall in love with, a happiness machine. A bit like that great grocery store but too far from home, above which you would dream of living to explode the number of visits. The people of Roanne are definitely lucky: the inn is located less than half an hour from their home, in Iguérande (Saône-et-Loire).

At its head, Lisa Roche and Léo Troisgros — a couple in the city as well as on stage, born in 1993 — have taken over the Colline du Colombier, opened in 2008 by Léo's parents, Marie-Pierre and Michel. The starting point was a simple idea: to transform an old farm into a gîte to reconnect with a peasant way of eating in the Brionnais. A house where you eat very well, where you breathe, and where you are welcomed as if you were at the home of friends who have a job. This is exactly how one feels onsite, far from the collection of technical gestures and the liturgy of other gastronomic restaurants.

The place itself contributes a lot to this. The "cadoles" of the architect Patrick Bouchain — spaceship-like cabins with contemporary comfort — give the rare impression of being really far from everything. If you have the opportunity to sleep there, even for one night (count €270 all the same), what a pleasure, in the early morning, to get up with the song of the apple trees and this large breakfast basket left in front of the door. Of course, the name Troisgros carries weight. He summons Roanne, a century of restaurant and sauce stories, a house that has become the oldest three-starred restaurant in operation in the Michelin guide. However, Léo — the youngest son of his brother César, who remained at the mythical address — does not play the role of "brand extension". With his partner, he bought the family inn to make this place exist with its own voice and rhythm.

As for the plates, the house has understood what part of the public is looking for in 2025: a short, readable, joyful menu. It starts at the bar which, despite its name, is a real improvised restaurant in the middle of the sofas next to the reception. First, an anthology poultry pâté en croûte — without jelly, topped with grapes. We could swallow only that, but other titles titillate: the "Street Corner" fries to dip in a cocktail sauce; the snails cooked with tomato, accompanied by small shrimps that bring crunch to what could only be viscous; and this rice, one of the heroes of the house. Léo Troisgros didn't manage to "steal" the sushi rice recipe from his visit to Japan? Never mind, he did it in his own way: Japanese rice, Orléans vinegar, rice vinegar, butter and trout roe. A new Proust's madeleine for just a few euros.

In the evening, the gastronomic restaurant that does not say its name — Le Grand Couvert — extends the same grammar: beautiful décor of wood and stone, large fireplace that cradles the tables. A welcome tureen sets the tone, enveloping, but crossed by acidic reliefs. Acidity also serves as a common thread in the meal, as in this masterful bar in the spirit of a millefeuille, superimposing fish, guanciale, citrus fruits and caper leaves.

And because there is a lot of talk about cooking and too little about service, we have to say a word about the dining room. Lisa Roche sets the pace: warmth without automatic intimacy, vivacity, humor from a good distance. The team circulates, looks, anticipates. It feels like home because she has clearly decided that this is the priority. A natural theatre, without effects but with heart, where the plates tell without explaining.

At the back, the Colline du Colombier offers what people secretly come for: care. A former manager of one of the most famous restaurants in Paris once told us that in case of anxiety, it was better to have lunch in a great restaurant than to go to a psychiatrist. That's so true here.