Moulin De Provence

Claude Bonnet, owner of Le Moulin de Provence, answered his calling to become a chef at a tender age. “I grew up in Provence in France,” he says. “I lived close to the coast so I was always in contact with fishermen and farmers. Food was important to home life.”

The young Claude was more interested in cooking than in his studies, so his father told him, “If you don’t go to school, go for a job.” So Claude left home at 13 to begin his apprenticeship, eventually earning the top culinary designation in France.

Claude wanted to experience life outside of France so he worked in Iraq and England before deciding to make Canada his permanent home. “I wanted a destination for life,” he explains. “In Canada, there is a lot of opportunity.”

He cooked at top Montreal restaurants before moving to the Laurentians, eventually opening his own restaurant in 1987. Living in the Laurentians was “the beginning of my ski romance in the north,” he says.

After meeting his wife, who was from Ottawa, Claude decided to leave the peace and quiet of country life behind and settle in the nation’s capital. “Ottawa is a nice town and the life is good,” says Claude. He opened Le Moulin de Provence, a bakery and café bistro, in 1997 in the ByWard Market. His vision was clear: “To create a picture of Provence,” he says. “And the flavours of France.”