Regain is housed behind the marigold shutter doors of one of Marseille’s trois fenêtres (meaning “three windows,” the city’s typical brownstone). From the street, one can spy the full tables of the shady urban garden far on the other side. It is hard to believe that this Rue Saint-Pierre restaurant opened just six months ago, given its current hot-spot status among Marseille gourmands. From the unusual descriptions of chef Sarah Chougnet-Studel’s creations, it’s hard to imagine what the taste and experience of any dish will be. But Regain’s many repeat diners trust in Sarah’s intriguing French-Asian amalgams: order anything on the menu and it will prove to be both intriguing and delicious.
As we pass through the dining room, the décor is minimalist: half-walls in forest green, a metal rod on which to hook the hand-written menus, wooden bistro tables and chairs. High lit shelves in art-deco style display the wonderful organic and natural wine selection of Lucien Solomon, Sarah’s Regain partner and longtime friend, and corner peek windows onto the kitchen. At center is the great chestnut wooden bar counter, and just above this, naturally, is displayed a poster of Jean Giono’s 1939 novel Regain. The novel recounts the regeneration of an imaginary village in Haute Provence after the desertification of the region, and the eventual reconnection to the land and its bounty – a concept which serves as one of the cornerstones of Sarah and Lucien’s project, along with travel and culinary adventure.
The back terrace is easygoing, not landscaped, shaded with old trees and leafy plants. Hanging on the windows of the next little brownstone, curiously, is a row of large bird cages. Diners are diverse in age and origins, like a lean man leaning up against the big tree trunk, in a broad-rimmed Spanish hat, a sculpted dark beard, smoking a thin cigarillo. A Chinese family of five are laughing and eating while their little boy gingerly exchanges with a heavy-set woman wearing a blue uniform and carrot-dyed corn-rows at the next table. Other tables held salt-and pepper haired men who looked accustomed to dining here, a couple engrossed in conversation, and groups of friends joined to have a nice dinner.
Sarah says her best Regain moments are when customers express their appreciation as they pass the kitchen windows, and when she dines with the team just before opening. The team members often look at each other across the table and realize they were four when they opened, and now they are a team of eight just six months later. Trained in Paris, Sarah lived a year in Singapore, in serious study of and training in the cuisines of India and Japan in particular. She plans to see how things evolve in her future career, and wishes to travel, perhaps spend time in Lisbon, return to Asia, open an Asian restaurant in Marseille, likely in addition to Regain. What is likely is that Regain and her future endeavors will continue to offer plucky alchemies—simple and perfect orchestrations of textures, temperatures, and flavors.
It is (happily) challenging to pin down Regain’s creations. What might zapatillo squash, kombu, cherries marinated in vinegar, and shallots drizzled with a sauce of mustard, algues and kamli taste like? An impeccably fresh, mysterious delight. The meat dishes are more recognizable, like beef tartare, but dressed surprisingly, in clams, cucumbers, almonds, whiskey, with an apricot condiment. And baba au rhum at Regain? This time it includes brown sugar, hot pepper, sheep’s milk custard, ginger, fresh currants, and peanut strudel, but this French classic is differently and deliciously perfumed and costumed whenever it reappears on the menu.
There is something about French and Asian high cuisines, French technique and Asian touches, imagined with talent and intelligence, that make such a grand-slam success at Regain. This gastronomic marriage is not new, but at the hands of Sarah and Lorraine, her kitchen partner in crime, it is taken to audacious heights, through their continuous conversation and experimentation. It probably helps that they are a young team (and we see this more and more often in Marseille), and this kind of culinary adventurousness is perhaps more possible because of Marseille itself. The clientele in this south-by-south cosmopolitan city is arguably more accepting of zing and spice, of meeting a gorgeous plate of food of a decidedly odd mélange, than it would be in more traditional parts of France (like Paris or Lyon).
Marseille makes it more possible to entertain another audacity: Regain shuts its doors on weekends, opens Monday to Friday for dinner, and lunch is served only on Thursdays and Fridays. It’s easy to wonder how they can manage when opening so sparingly. But Sarah and Lucien stick to their guns on this one: they want to cultivate a Marseille clientele, not weekend passersby. And as importantly, Sarah explains, they wish to keep their weekends for reading, visiting museums, seeing friends and exploring the region. The Regain team seems to instinctively understand that their culinary creatively and passion derive precisely from well-balanced living, inquisitiveness and culture. Their focus on these non-commercial values is what paradoxically has made them such a success story.
Jenine AbboushiMarion Péhée
Published on August 03, 2022
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