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 finest restaurants. Modern man is attracted by what is rare. Its goal will be to capture this scarcity and try to generate maximum profits. Since the resource is limited, humans will have to find technical alternatives to artificially reproduce this scarcity. The game will then be to adapt production and distribution in order to generate ever more profits. It is exactly against this enormous, environmentally destructive deception 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 artisanal 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 sheep meat comes directly from my farm 20 minutes from Chassagne-Montrachet. 40 hectares of crops and 140 ha of meadows 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 just fillet and ribs. It annoys me to see pieces of lamb, shanks and cheeks on restaurant menus. In order to ensure continuity of supply, the chef will receive the same piece but from different animals, farms and countries. It's as if, on the wine list, I only indicated Pinot noir. Without you knowing it, one day it will be a Californian Pinot and the next day a Burgundy Pinot.

The aromatics of thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and sage come from my permaculture garden. We also pick crops in the castle grounds to enhance our dishes with wild garlic or nettles depending on the season. When you cook with healthy and fresh products, there is no need for makeup such as excessive salt, glutamate or industrial sauces of any kind.

You won't find coca cola, avocado or banana. Each product we work with must show its white credentials. Coffee is a good example. Coffee cultivation is a disaster for producing countries. Deforestation and exploitation of populations. George Clooney’s “What Else” doesn’t make me dream at all! We therefore offer coffee that is grown in the forest with a fair distribution of value.

I don't want to bluff you with a sales title that actually hides industrial products disconnected from their region. My shopping is done in nature and not at Métro or Pomona. The products on the menu are simple, raw and linked to their terroir. They are handmade and cooked over a wood fire in a bread oven.

To be healthy you have to eat healthy!

Armand Heitz

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