Xavier Poupel & Janette Judge-Poupel

Xavier Poupel, dual French/Australian citizen born in Normandy, France, is a highly credentialed Escoffier trained Chef. Xavier has worked internationally and Australia wide and has extensive experience in Fine Dining, French Bistro, Fusion and modern Australian cuisine, as well as his ‘specialty-styles’ of cuisine with Flowers, and cuisine with Truffles.

Among his many culinary accomplishments Xavier has cooked for royalty, billionaires, political figures and celebrities: the Aga Khan, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, Evel Knievel, Robert Redford, Bruce Willis and the Ferrari Formula One team in Monaco. He has worked in the kitchens of world renowned establishments including Chateau Richelieu in New York as Chef de Cuisine; Le Privilege on St Martin in the Carribean as Executive Chef, and the Marco Polo Hotel in Singapore as Consultant Chef de Cuisine at La Brasserie. Xavier has cooked aboard the private yachts of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the King of Saudi Arabia; for Prince Charles in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan; worked as Private Chef for their majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan and the Sultan of Brunei; and held the position of Director of Kitchen in the Sedona Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma). In Australia, Xavier was Executive Chef at Prunier’s in Sydney and also at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth, among others.

Fuelled by his own strong food and family traditions, Xavier’s passion has long been ‘Provincial-style cuisine or Peasant Food’.  True to his French traditional leanings, his approach is simple:

The shared passion that Xavier and Janette have for terroir products, fine wine and warm hospitality was applauded in their award-winning gastronomique restaurant, Le Colombier, Normandy, France. Their previous management role, directly before arriving in the south west was a private villa situated between Cannes and Nice just outside the medieval village of Biot on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France.

In addition to managing their restaurant and a private villa in France, Sydney born Janette has had a career in business administration, human resources, event and project management; and has worked in different fields of adult education, including corporate development, teaching English as a second language, and with a Washington-based humanitarian organisation focused on AIDS education in Myanmar. Janette completed a BA Arts in October 2012 majoring in Anthropology and Philosophical studies, and intends to research the cultural heritage and food traditions of the Great Southern region, and the cultural and ritual significance of food shared.