Foie gras foam, lobster cromesquis, scallop mousseline, caviar, game, matured prime rib. These rare products make us dream. We often find them on the menus of the most beautiful tables. Modern man is attracted by what is rare. Its goal will be to manage to capture this scarcity and try to generate maximum profits. The resource being limited, Man will have to find technical alternatives to reproduce this scarcity artificially. The game will then be to adapt production and distribution in order to generate ever more profits. It is exactly against this huge deception that destroys the environment that my restaurant La Terrasse de Mimande has decided to fight.

I am a farmer and I want to show the customer the reality of a plate with farm, local products and artisan cuisine. Wheat and buckwheat flours are grown on my plots in Meursault. He is a farmer friend who sows and cultivates cereals. After the harvest, the cereals are ground on stone millstones. These flours allow us to prepare the dough for our pies and desserts.

The cow and mutton meat comes directly from my farm 20 minutes from Chassagne-Montrachet. 40 hectares of crops and 140 hectares of grassland allow me to feed my 260 cows and 150 sheep. Animal droppings fertilize crops. The farm is almost autonomous. I repeat it often, in a cow there is more than tenderloin and ribs. It bothers me to see pieces of hanger steak, skirts and cheeks on the restaurant menu. In order to ensure the continuity of his supply, the chef will receive the same piece but from different animals, farms and countries. It's as if, on the wine list, I indicated only Pinot Noir. Without you knowing it, one day it will be a Californian Pinot and the next day a Pinot de Bourgogne.

The thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and sage herbs come from my permaculture garden. We also carry out pickings in the park of the castle to decorate our dishes with wild garlic or nettles according to the season. When cooking with healthy and fresh products, there is no need for makeup such as excessive salt, glutamate or industrial sauces of all kinds.

You won't find coca cola, avocado or banana. Every product we work on must show its credentials. Coffee is a good example. Coffee growing is a disaster for producing countries. Deforestation and exploitation of populations. Georges Clooney's "What Else" does not make me dream at all! We therefore offer a coffee that is grown in the forest with a fair distribution of value.

I don't want to bluff you with a seller title but which actually hides industrial products disconnected from their land. My shopping is done in nature and not at metro or pomona. The products on the menu are simple, raw and linked to their terroir. They are handmade and baked over a wood fire in a bread oven.

To be healthy, you have to eat healthy!

Armand Heitz

Mimande's Terrace
1 rue du Château 71150 Chaudenay
Open every Friday, midday and evening, during the summer period.
By reservation: +33 6 65 65 74 26 or chateau@armandheitz.com