Cantal. The Millefeuille de la Guiguite à Mandailles is quite a story

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In the Mandailles valley, where the peaks are draped in a majestic mist in the morning, nestles a emblematic place of the Cantal tradition: Aux Genêts d’Oralso known as “ At Guiguite's» . At almost 1,000 meters above sea level, a little behind the D17 leading to Puy Mary this family homeis much more than just a restaurant. She is a pillar of the local gastronomyrenowned throughout the region for its exceptional millefeuille.

The land of millefeuille

The history of this legendary millefeuille goes back to Elisabeth nicknamed “La Lisa”, first Mandaillard from a pastry lineage. Coming from a large family of farmers, she is the second of ten childrenand left his farm to open a bakery in 1933 the Hotel du Bout du Monde . It is his daughterMarie, trained in Montreuil with Parisian artisans, who introduced the lamination technique thus laying the foundations of the specialty which still makes Genêts d'Or famous today.

It is to Mary that we owe the famous recipeof the Millefeuille. Her daughter Marguerite, or “Guiguite” remembers: “Mom easily remembered a recipe without writing it downlike that of the brioche we don't talk about it less but we also have a good reputation for brioche, a recipe given by a lady who came on vacation and who gave the recipe to my mother,” she remembers.

Christophe works his puff pastry and his pastry cream at lightning speed like no one else

The heirs in working order

Guiguite, with her husband Georges, bet on building a hotel bar restaurant adjoining the existing business. They knew how to perpetuate the bump of commerceand with it the recipe for millefeuille. In a friendly atmospherethe “grandpas bar”, welcomed old people who played cards and shared good times. “The restaurant has existed since 1990. At the time the wood oven was at the barwe ate in the kitchen. When we redid the restaurant we moved everything, we put the oven in the shed, the bar instead of the kitchen, it was like that, without fuss at the time “, remembers Christophe, Guiguite's son who has since taken up the torch about thirty years .

The legend of the valley

Humble, Guiguite refuses the term legend of the valley. “Maybe I did the legend of the millefeuillea little more than mom who talked about it a little less and yet she is the one originally» . Guiguite is 77 years old today, she stopped her activity by peeling vegetables, an activity that she particularly liked before stopping definitively and staying the matriarch of this beautiful family success story which has more than 90 ans.

The passing of the baton

Today it is Christophe (fourth generation) who proudly wears thisfamily heirloom . He is now the keeper of the family's millefeuille secret, passed down by his grandmother and then his mother Guiguite. “It’s the air of Mandailles that gives it its unique taste, I’m just reproducing a recipe with pr simple products » smiles Christophe, always modest in the face of reputationof its creation.

With gestures learned from his ancestors, he continues to make millefeuille in an artisanal way, without icing or embellishments, because, he says, “it’s a millefeuille that to be enjoyed on siteas soon as it is done, otherwise the laminationbecomes too soaked.

Alongside Christophe, his brothers and sisters contribute to the activityfamily. Véronique welcomes customers to the restaurant, while Jean-Luc prepares the bread, distributed throughout the valley, thus remaining the only local bakery to ensure daily tour .

A reputation to match

Even passing visitors, hikers or simple touristsstop here to enjoy a millefeuille or a slice of blueberry pieother house specialty. Over the years, the Guiguite millefeuille has become areal institutionin Mandailles, so much so that even the teams from TF1 and France 5 (Petit Renaud's escapades) came to immortalize the seemingly immutable traditions of the Vigouroux family.

A video will be found on the Actu Cantal Facebook page, probably on November 14, 2024.

Aux Genêts d’Or “at Guiguite’s”. Hotel-restaurant-bar-grocery store. Le Mas, 15590 Mandailles-Saint-Julien Reservations and orders on 04 71 47 96 45.

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