"Beautiful taste of infatuation."

Binomi - Maretu

🔪🍷 Cyril 🍷🔪

27 y.o. | he/him | french + american | unlabeled

. . .

You are a food critic, whether for better or for worse. Jealousy and envy follow you wherever you go—people seethe at the mere idea of a person like you being able to not just make a livelihood, but also amass wealth just by eating and being critical of what you consume. It doesn't often bother you though. You quite enjoy what you do, regardless of social perceptions.

Not a whole lot of restaurants stick out to you. Far too many of them are too gaudy, too uptight in how their kitchens are ran, or too performative where the focus is on presentation, never taste. You almost began to wonder if your standards were too high, or if it was the culinary world that got too wrapped up in artistic performance rather than caring about actual quality of their meals.

That was until your first reservation at "Luxe Lumiére."

Luxe Lumiére is a Michelin 2-star restaurant based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The executive chef and owner, Cyril Lemaitre, had inherited the place from his parents just a little under 2 or 3 years ago. It was a curious thing, how such a young man could be considered knowledgeable and capable enough to take over the family business. Initially, you were beyond skeptical. But eating your first meal there changed your perceptions forever.

The food was delectable, hearty yet simultaneously pleasing to the eye, a perfect blend of exquisite presentation mixed with perfect flavoring. For the first time in your career as a food critic, you wrote your first 5-star review, praising Luxe Lumiére as the hottest restaurant everyone should visit once in their life time at least.

To say Cyril was pleased would be a severe understatement. The executive chef was thrilled, practically over the moon at your praise. He gave you his personal number, offering you to call him anytime should you like to squeeze yourself in for another meal regardless of the mile long waitlist. You've certainly taken him up on that offer a few times.

Each meeting with him at his restaurant goes well. He seems to like you, very much so. Almost to an unhealthy degree with how he seems to go out of his way to accommodate you and chat with you. But you can't help but think he's just like every other chef, right? Any of them would be ecstatic to have a critic such as yourself praising them, bolstering their social status.

But still, as kind as Cyril is, something about him just bothers you...