Eure. After 43 years at the head of La Marigotière, Françoise closes her restaurant

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Son restaurant, Françoise Bouget must have had trouble talking about it in the past tense for the moment, but the page is turning. For 43 years, the latter was either in the kitchen or in the bathroom. La Marigotièrelocated in Notre-Dame-du-Hamel.

No buyer, a heartache

Now, the sixty-year-old wishes retire. “I decided to enjoy my grandchildren, I want to see other things and travel,” smiles Françoise, whose two daughters live in different regions.

For several years, the manager looking to sell his business, but no offer was made. “When we tell potential buyers that we works every weekendit surprises them,” she says. In fact, the place was often used for receptions.

This is why, in the absence of a buyer, the establishment has permanently closed its doors and its kitchens on Monday September 30. This is what hurts his heart the most.

“I have worked all my life and my business is unsellable “, she laments. The reason is unknown to him, the distance from large cities like Rouen or Caen was reported to him, however “I have lived there for 43 years and I refused people, because I lacked hands, it is not a customer question ».

It’s a beautiful job, which I did with passion and which I will miss.

Since she announced the news, François has lost count of the many messages of support. “I received flowers all weekend and people brought me bottles, that touches me,” she emphasizes.

An old pigsty

Before becoming this renowned restaurant praised by several culinary critics, the site was a old pigsty. “In 1976, the year of the drought, all the pigs on the farm died and the owners sold us the premises,” says the current owner, aged 23 when it opened.

The simple brick building was transformed into a restaurant. First opened only on weekend and 1981alternating with another business in Saint-Pierre-de-Cernières, the establishment opens full time from 1983.

“We started from nothing,” she remembers. At the beginning, we were associated with a couple of charcutiers. Being partners wasn’t always easy, so we broke away and they set up La Pommeraie. »

Little by little, she and her ex-husband managed to make their restaurant known, which was very often full. Mainly in the dining room, Françoise also took care of many dishes in the kitchen.

“I was a perfectionist, so no one touched my foie grasbecause it has to be well denervated,” explains the woman who had been in the world of cooking since the age of 16, specifying that she particularly liked making sweetbread escalopes with morelsturbot with champagne butter or even hot or cold lobster.

Annie Cordy, Jean-Marie Proslier and David Douillet came to eat here.

Several distinctions…

“We had three Michelin forks et 14 out of 20 at Gault & Millaux », declares Françoise proudly. In 1996, she became a member of Toques Normandes.

The starred chef Philippe Sureauowner of the Etape Louis XIII in Beaumesnil at the time, came one day unannounced for lunch. At the end of the meal, he suggests to Françoise to prepare your wedding meal and to join this association bringing together the great chefs of the territory.

“At 26, I organized the general assembly. Make a meal with only chefswe must not miss it,” she remembers, also pushed by Pierre Hervéfrom the La Butte restaurant, located in Bonsecours.

Last cooking anecdote: the arrival of Gaston Lenôtrefamous pastry chef. “He taught me how to make Camembert donuts so that I could put them on menus,” reveals Françoise, also inducted into the Euro Toques association by Paul Bocuse.

The establishment has also experienced less amusing episodes, such as its fire in 2013. “There was nothing left, everything was devastated,” she remembers. For three years, the restaurant had to adapt work time.

A wedding was to take place the weekend following the fire, the mayor kindly lent the party hall. Afterwards, Françoise rented a cottageon which prefabs were installed.

The health crisis was a second hard blow for the manager and her team, but they were always able to bounce back. On March 14, 2020, a wedding took place at La Marigotière.

“At midnight, the Bernay gendarmerie called me to find out if I was closed,” the bride and groom managed to negotiate closing at one in the morning. At the appointed time, “there were two bikers in front of the door to see if everyone had left.”

And many marriages

Apart from the catering, the place was above all specialized in eventsespecially weddings. And in 43 years, Françoise has attended many parties many of which left him with lasting memories.

“One day, I arrived with my wedding cake and the bride had argued with her mother-in-law and left. We never presented dessert », says Françoise, laughing. The story still ended well since the bride and groom returned a few years later for the baptism of their child.

Another time, the stage that the photographer had set up collapsed. “ Two or three people had a broken leg », remembers the owner of La Marigotière.

The restaurant closes its doors with one last happy note. “We did our last wedding saturday eveningsays Françoise. Normally, they were supposed to get married in October, but they moved the date forward when they learned that I was closing. »

Now, his delicious meals will be reserved for his daughters and grandchildren. Cooking will also continue to run through the family’s veins, as its grandson Alexander also chose this professional path.

“He had attacked medicine and without saying anything to his parents, he registered at hotel schoolrelates the grandmother. He said “it was Grandma who gave me a taste for cooking”. »

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