Already convinced that he would become a chef, Wahid left school at the age of 15 to apprentice at the renowned Cheval Blanc restaurant in the southern city of Nimes under the orders of Thierry Marx, today chef of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant Sur Mesure.
In Paris, Wahid worked with other notable chefs including Bruno Cirino at the Royal Monceau, Alain Solivérès at the Vernet, and Alain Ducasse with whom he worked at the Relais du Parc and the Plaza Athénée before being sent to the (now-closed) Essex House restaurant in New York for four years.
At Sylvestre since 2015, he quickly earned 2 Michelin stars, less than a year after taking over the kitchens of Thoumieux following the departure of Jean-Francois Piège, one of the brightest lights in Paris’s culinary galaxy.
“Some great chefs have believed in me in the past; they didn’t care where I came from. I thank them today,” wrote Sylvestre recently. “Now, here, it is my turn to transmit this knowledge and do it in the most beautiful way possible, the most personal way, the right way, with devotion and humility.”
