Andreas Mavrommatis: A Chef in Paris
With dedication, patience, passion, and respect for tradition, the renowned chef has succeeded in highlighting the authentic flavours of Greek and Cypriot cuisine, making them a brilliant focal point of the gastronomic scene in Paris.
Interview by Pieris Panayi
They say the flavours of our childhood are the ones that define us forever. And this holds true for Andréas Mavrommatis. For years, he has transformed the sights and tastes of his youth from the mountains of Pitsilia into a unique culinary journey. He still remembers the taste of the first cucumbers and tomatoes of the season, the peaches they picked in Agios Ioannis, a small village 900 metres above sea level in Agros, and his mother’s homemade goat cheese. “My mother made her own Halloumi. We had goats, and every morning we enjoyed fresh milk. That’s how we came to appreciate authentic flavours. She also prepared exceptional casseroles: green beans with meat, Kolokasi (Taro root) with celery, Keftedes (meatballs) with bulgur, and Afelia (pork in red wine) with dried coriander. My late father, on the other hand, was a bus driver. He owned his own buses, running routes from the village to the city and organising excursions. But he also made cured meats at home. We were self-sufficient, producing our own sausage and ham.”
Andréas arrived in Paris in 1977 to study psychology. “When you’re young, you dream of doing great things, of becoming someone. As a child, I wanted to become a professor of literature, but I didn’t pass the exams to enter a Greek university. During my time in the military, I met a friend who was reading Freud. I read him too, and I was drawn to the sociological aspect of the subject. I also had a great teacher in Cyprus who instilled in us a love of France and of Paris. Plus, the universities there were free. That’s how I decided to go to France. I enrolled with the goal of becoming a psychologist”.
I ask him what images of Cyprus he carried with him. “I carried with me the experiences, the memories of my mother’s cooking and the family meals we shared. I consider myself lucky to have been born in a village, where I discovered the authentic taste of local products and learned the rhythm of the seasons. Our roots are our identity. But I also inherited something more from my family. My parents taught me and my siblings to love hard work. That became a tool for all of us, a way to never give up. It takes persistence to achieve what you want and to become the best. When my siblings and I arrived in Paris, everything was unfamiliar and incomprehensible, but we worked hard. We had no money, and from the first day, we were searching for work.” He started working in Greek restaurants, first washing dishes, then passing through all the kitchen stations before moving on to serve in the dining room. "That’s the only way to learn. You don’t start as a chef right away. It takes persistence and hard work.”
Since 1981, Andréas has been offering cuisine in Paris that breaks away from the typical clichés of Greek restaurants abroad. “We started 40 years ago, and the French perception of Greek and Cypriot cuisine was almost purely folkloric. It was limited to the familiar trio of Moussaka, Souvlaki, and Tzatziki. While they are great, Greek food goes far beyond that.” From the outset of his journey, he set out to elevate the image of Cypriot cuisine internationally. In 1981, he and his siblings opened a small grocery store in Paris’ 5th arrondissement featuring products from Cyprus and Greece. “Toward the end of my studies, a neighbour told us he was renting out a small shop and asked if we were interested in taking it over to open a restaurant. We had never thought about it before, even though we had been working in one. It was a very small place, mainly operating as a take-away. We didn’t even have enough money for equipment, so we brought pots and pans from our home.”
On the shelves of the small restaurant-delicatessen, they had Cypriot olive oil, cheeses, homemade jams, and Commandaria. Today, at his Michelin-starred restaurant, the wine list includes Xynisteri, Giannoudi –a wonderful, once-forgotten variety being revived in recent years– Mavro, and, of course, aged Commandaria. “Once a year, we host a dinner with the best sommeliers in France. That’s where Olivier Poussier, the world’s best, spoke for five minutes about Commandaria in front of the crème de la crème of wine experts. He even called up my brother, Evagoras, and thanked him for introducing him to this exquisite dessert wine. This is the work we do. We promote our country. And we don’t do it for recognition or gratitude. I see it as a patriotic act. Someone who loves their country doesn’t seek to exploit it for personal gain. They do it because it feels like the right thing to do.”
I ask what his motivation was when he first started. “Creation. To discover new flavours by adding my own touch to make it distinctly Cypriot.” As the conversation progresses, it becomes clear that for the man sitting in front of me, cooking is far more than just preparing food. It’s an art that demands respect and dedication. “It’s essential to respect the seasonality of ingredients,” he emphasises. “You can’t serve asparagus in June or tomatoes in winter. These are fundamental rules.” He refuses to use products that have travelled hundreds of miles and lost their flavour. His philosophy on Greek-Cypriot cuisine is equally clear. “Greek cuisine might seem strange to the French, who are accustomed to truffles and foie gras,” he admits. “But Mediterranean flavours have their own value.” He describes how he takes traditional dishes and transforms them, preserving their authentic taste while adding a touch of finesse. “For example, we might prepare beef Stifado (a stew) that retains its Cypriot flavour but is cooked without fat and with such precision and technique that it makes it truly unique.”
Andréas often returns to Cyprus to visit his family. “If someone were visiting for the first time, I would tell them to explore our mountains and the countryside, to see all the shades of green and gold in the leaves. They should visit the beautiful monasteries that are on the UNESCO list, eat at small tavernas –there are wonderful ones in Omodos– visit the mosaics of Pafos, and the fantastic Archaeological Museum of Nicosia. They should also visit the villages in Troodos and see how Halloumi is made.” He recalls that years ago, French public television wanted to do a feature on him. “We were going to Cyprus, so I took them to Agros to make Halloumi with the women of the village and my mother. We got a a Hartzi (traditional tub), filled it with rennet and milk, and made Anari and Halloumi. They were amazed! These are the things that make us unique: our traditions and our hospitality.”
Since 2018, Andréas has held the highest accolade for a chef, a Michelin star, becoming the first Cypriot to earn this distinction. “It’s not as important to reach the top as it is to stay there. That’s where the real challenge lies – maintaining your position. And to achieve that, consistency is key. You can’t have someone come in and enjoy a dish, and the next time they order the same thing, it tastes different. The customer pays the same amount both times, and you must respect that. Often, we focus too much on presentation and not enough on taste. But taste is 95% of the dish. Presentation matters too, but that impact lasts only two seconds. As Proust said, 'Taste frees us from both our sorrows and our joys.’”
