Sébastien Vaillend, guardian of authentic cuisine

Sébastien Vaillend always knew he would one day become a chef. A native of Annecy, he trained in his hometown and took his first steps at Le Belvédère. In 1994, thanks to a recommendation from his chef, he joined the Café de Certoux. He then returned to the shores of Lake Annecy for three years at the Auberge du Père Bise. In 2009, Sébastien was called back by the former owner of Café de Certoux, Bernard Livron, with whom he has always kept good contact.

In 2019, after three generations in the Livron family, Café de Certoux takes a new turn. The chef decided to pass the torch to Sébastien Vaillend and his partner Grégory Lalin. Still the owner of the establishment and a local resident, Bernard Livron remains a pillar of the restaurant, sharing his recipes for foie gras and pâté en croûte, and coming to greet regulars.

Authentic cuisine

At Café de Certoux, Sébastien prides himself on his authentic, generous cuisine, inspired by the dishes of yesteryear, where taste is the only thing that counts. In his opinion, just as some new cuisines deserve to see the light of day, old dishes deserve to live on. The most important thing is to do what you love, and it’s this vision that he passes on to his team. Surrounded by four women whom he admires and with whom he shares his passion for cooking without artifice, he concocts sole meunière or frogs en persillade to perfection.

Since Sébastien Vaillend took over the reins of the establishment, music has become a fixture in the Café de Certoux kitchen. Every day, playlists of tunes punctuate the service and set the mood: rock music can be heard in moments of rush, while soothing melodies help the staff get the day off to a gentle start. For Sébastien, music synchronizes the team’s work and provides the energy needed to bring gastronomic excellence to life in a timeless way.