Filipe Fonseca and Damien Facile, Crissier’s goalkeepers
Edouard Amoiel
20 septembre 2026
Hired as kitchen assistants nearly fifteen years ago, Filipe Fonseca and Damien Facile are now the backbone of the restaurant at the Crissier City Hall. The careers of these two sous-chefs working under Franck Giovannini are a testament to the loyalty, trust, and strength of an establishment that thrives thanks to those who choose to stay.
You have to step into the kitchens of Crissier City Hall during a service shift to understand. Here, everything seems to run with the precision of a complicated watch. They assemble, plate, taste, and adjust. Plates come and go behind the serving counter in cathedral-like silence. Few words are spoken. Glances are enough. It’s a kind of gastronomic clockwork where everyone knows exactly where they belong.
By the time they turned 21
Amid this impressive operation, Franck Giovannini keeps watch. He is the institution’s guardian. For once, I’m not going to talk about him, but rather about his two deputies who work alongside him: Filipe Fonseca and Damien Facile. These two loyal employees arrived here in 2011, a month and a half apart. They were both 21 years old at the time.
“When we arrived, we were both dishwashers,” recalls Filipe. They already knew each other—they had attended the same culinary school and had just left their respective jobs: Filipe at Troisgros in Roanne and Damien at Les Flocons de Sel in Megève. Crissier was supposed to be a stepping stone—spending two years at a legendary restaurant before moving on to explore the world. “Benoît Violier shook our hands and told us, ‘You’ll stay for at least two years.’” Fifteen years later, they’re still there.
Those Who Remain
In a restaurant industry where constant change has become the norm, spending fifteen years at the same establishment is a remarkable achievement. With his passion undiminished, Damien says: “We’re lucky to have Franck Giovannini as our chef. He’s an inspiring leader who drives us forward in our mission to ensure the restaurant and its cuisine endure.”
Their rise was built step by step through the positions they held, the responsibilities they took on, and the events that shook the restaurant to its core. There were changes, departures, and, of course, the sudden passing of Benoît Violier in 2016. They had to keep going. Take on more. And to grow as well. Today, Damien manages the hot dishes and Filipe handles the cold preparations. As for the rest, their complementary styles seem almost instinctive. “It’s pretty seamless. We’ve never really asked ourselves why one does this and the other does that. It just happened naturally,” explains Filipe.
Trust
Franck Giovannini sums up in one word what binds the three men together: trust. “They know the restaurant inside and out. They know what people like and, above all, what they don’t like.” In a kitchen of this caliber, that trust is essential. A chef can’t be everywhere or control everything. “I know that if one of them has tasted a dish, it’s good. Otherwise, it would be unbearable.” This stability is also, in his view, one of Crissier’s long-standing strengths.
Over the past 70 years, the owners have changed. Fredy Girardet, Philippe Rochat, Benoît Violier, and then Franck Giovannini have succeeded one another. The three stars, however, have remained. That’s because the chef has always been surrounded by people capable of elevating the restaurant’s reputation beyond that of a single name. “We’re often asked how we’ve managed to retain three Michelin stars despite several changes in chefs.”
A Distinctive Cuisine
Over the past fifteen years, Filipe and Damien have also witnessed the evolution of cuisine. Plating has become more refined, dishes have been modernized, and the cuisine has become lighter. Technical precision and visual presentation have taken on even greater importance. Yet one thing has never changed. The ingredient. Always the ingredient. “Ever since we arrived, our guiding principle has been to present an ingredient elevated by no more than two or three flavors.” That, no doubt, is what defines an identity. Looking at a plate and immediately knowing where it comes from—both in terms of flavor and presentation. A plate from Crissier looks like Crissier. Filipe and Damien aren’t content merely to be its guardians; for fifteen years, they’ve been actively shaping its evolution.
And then there’s the service. Sometimes fifteen or sixteen tables have to be served at the same time, with different set menus, à la carte dishes, and alternatives. Hot and cold dishes must come together down to the second. Yet even amid this intensity, a surprising calm reigns. The calm after the storm. This is perhaps where Crissier has changed the most. Even more than the dishes themselves, Franck Giovannini highlights the restaurant’s atmosphere. Previous generations had experienced a tougher, more rigid style of cooking. The chef wanted something different. Filipe and Damien grew up with this evolution and are now its standard-bearers. The high standards haven’t diminished. Nor has the discipline. But it no longer needs raised voices to exist.
Quiet Pride
Be warned: behind the apparent calm lies constant tension. Everything must be just right. All the time. Lunch and dinner. A three-star rating doesn’t tolerate anything less than perfection. Then comes the moment to ask them the question that seems to embarrass them more than any other. Are they proud? A silence follows—almost a sense of awkwardness. Then the answer comes: “Yes, we’re proud. It would be a lie to say otherwise. Proud to represent this restaurant, to be able to support the chef.” And they immediately add: “We’re just cooking; it’s not like we’re saving lives.” A way of putting things into perspective and, probably, of never taking their work too seriously.
At age 21, they dreamed of big houses and traveling around the world. In Crissier, they made their dream come true. It took them fifteen years to rise from the rank of kitchen help to become the guardians of a certain vision of Crissier. Franck Giovannini looks at them with pride he makes no attempt to hide. In the silence of the kitchen, Filipe Fonseca and Damien Facile are already back at their stations. Service, after all, waits for no one.
