Family of passionate entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, caterers for fifteen years, the Barbiers are among the most active and motivated defenders of Reunionese gastronomy in mainland France. They have just opened their fourth restaurant in Montpellier, and don't plan to stop there.
“We plan to become the leaders in Reunion cuisine to introduce our delicious specialties to as many people as possible by developing our restaurants throughout the metropolis.. We are resolutely determined to make it shine in all its letters of nobility and to make it an essential part of gastronomic customs in mainland France. » Quality and authenticity are the key words of Vanessa’s approach, Yannick and Florian Barbier, who opened their first restaurant, The 7th Spice, in 2009 in the department of Essonne, where their parents, from Ravine des Cabris and Saint-Denis, settled in the late 1980s. A second establishment, and Many, emerged about ten years later, in the same department, on the edge of the Chevreuse valley. But the Covid crisis has changed their approach to catering and, in 2022, it's in the South, near Avignon, that the first establishment under the White Dodo brand appeared, followed last month by the opening of Comptoir du Dodo blanc in downtown Montpellier. A brand in two formats – restaurant and takeaway counter – offering the same high-end Reunionese cuisine : it is on this basis that the project will now develop. The next stage should take the White Dodo to Aix-en-Provence.
Ambassadors of French exoticism
Guarantor of the authenticity of their Creole cuisine, their father, Marcel Barbier, deals in particular with homemade rums. “We are ambassadors of French exoticism”, declare Vanessa and Yannick Barbier. They source Reunion smoked meats and charcuterie from Maison Robert in Narbonne and Maison Vayaboury in Essonne.. However, they too are faced with the difficulty of sourcing excellent Reunion products that they would nevertheless like to be able to offer to their customers. “How to bring them in and be able to resell them at prices that are not exorbitant ? » : this is the equation, and the question also posed by Barbier and, through them, all Reunionese restaurateurs in mainland France.
