Have you ever come home after a long day and wished for a traditional French meal, cooked and served in your own house?

Until now, lack of time and cooking skills would have made this impossible, but now it need not be that way with this French home chef service.

Late last year I discovered Lou Papé, a French chef service that brings home-cooked French cuisine right to your table–incroyable!

French chef service à la grand-maman

Lou Papé is a Paris-based service that provides senior home chefs who cook for you in your own home. Its mission is to allow people to enjoy traditional French cooking ‘like grandmother used to make’ and to create an outlet for pensioners who have a passion for cooking.

The business was created by Alizé Delbes, who grew up appreciating the authentic French cuisine prepared by her grandmothers. When she moved to Paris, Delbes missed the usual blanquette de veau and roasted pintade, and searched for a place where she could enjoy food that would conjure up memories of home. Not finding anywhere, she created her home chef service – Lou Papé.

Your home French chef service: four steps

The Lou Papé home chef service works in four easy steps.

• Choose chef and menu: first, you book a chef from a list of profiles online and you also chose your menu online. The chef will have indicated the utensils needed to prepare your chosen meal. If you don’t have everything necessary, you simply contact Lou Papé and they will find a solution.
• The day it all happens: the chef arrives with the ingredients necessary, which are always locally sourced and seasonally produced. Ensuite, the chef sets up in your kitchen to cook the meal. All you have to do is prepare your home.
• Be served in your own home: Once your meal is ready, the chef will serve it to your table. All you have to do is play hostess.
• Kitchen goddess: Before leaving, he or she will clean your kitchen. All you have to do is put your feet up.

Culinary delights by talented French chefs

Who are the chefs?

The chefs available for booking with Lou Papé are French pensioners with a passion for cooking. Before selecting their chefs, Lou Papé talks to them about their culinary preferences, their hobbies and lives. Chefs must pass a cooking test to assess their ability to create a great tasting menu, source good quality products and cook hygienically.

What about the menus?

Menus differ in terms of quantity and prices. Chef Catherine’s menu costs 40€ per person and consists of four courses, including a starter of fish tartar and a main of chicken stuffed with olives. Jean Jack’s gouté menu at 12€ is a trio of sweet snacks: chocolat chaud mousseux, apple tart with a cinnamon pastry and madeleines à la fleur d’oranger. Lou Papé also offers a seasonal Christmas menu.

In my view, while the prices are perfectly reasonable, Lou Papé could benefit from a larger choice of chefs as at the time of writing there are only four chefs to choose from. No doubt this number will increase as the business expands; we look forward to seeing how they progress!

Lou Papé is a promising home chef service that offers delicious French food, providing an interesting alternative to going out for dinner and the irresistible opportunity to come home from work to a hot meal. Here you can watch an interview with the founder Alizé Delbes.

Would you consider using a home chef service? What do you think of the menus Lou Papé provides? Let us know in the comments below!