Andreas Mavrommatis, the distinguished Cypriot chef and co-owner of Maison Mavrommatis, died on Saturday night at the age of 69.
Mavrommatis was a Michelin-starred chef and co-owner of Maison Mavrommatis, a France-based chain of restaurants and delicatessen shops. The Michelin Guide lists Mavrommatis in Paris as a one-star restaurant, while the company says Maison Mavrommatis has operated in France since 1981.
Born in the village of Agios Ioannis Pitsilias, he moved to Paris in 1977 to study sociology and psychology, but a restaurant job he took to earn a living proved decisive for the course of his life and career.
He later studied at the French school Le Monde, where he learned culinary techniques and met leading French chefs. His brothers Evagoras and Dionysis later joined him in France and, in 1981, the family opened a small grocery in Paris’s 5th arrondissement.
That shop, Mavrommatis deli, sold products from Cyprus and Greece and was later turned into a restaurant. A new boutique with Greek products followed, and Greek recipes began attracting growing demand from French customers.
The family later opened the taverna Les Délices d’Aphrodite and, in 1993, opened Mavrommatis along with two Bistrot Mavrommatis restaurants, one in Madeleine and one in Passy.
The Mavrommatis chain now includes four restaurants in Paris and nine shops serving Paris, Nice, Marseille and Cyprus. The restaurants in Paris serve creative Cypriot and Greek cuisine updated through French techniques.
Well-known figures, including actor Catherine Deneuve and French political figures François Hollande, Emmanuel Macron and Nicolas Sarkozy, dined at the restaurants.
The company also markets packaged Greek products in France under the Thessalia brand, while a factory in the suburbs of Paris packages Greek products.
In 2018, Mavrommatis won his first Michelin star for his creative Cypriot and Greek cuisine.
He also curated the gala dinner for the 2019 Greek Cuisine Awards, while his restaurant Vivaldi by Mavrommatis at the Four Seasons in Limassol received a Golden Chef’s Hat award in the first edition of the institution in Cyprus.
He also wrote several cookery books, including Mavrommatis – 45 recettes de Grèce, avec amour and Les délices d’Aphrodite: 80 recettes grecques.
President Nikos Christodoulides said he had learned with deep sorrow of the death of the distinguished Cypriot chef, describing him as a figure who honoured Cyprus internationally through his work, creativity and character.
Christodoulides said Mavrommatis had been a pioneer of Mediterranean gastronomy and one of the most important ambassadors of Cypriot and Greek cuisine abroad. He said he had succeeded in bringing the flavours and products of Cyprus to international attention and had won the recognition of the French and international gastronomic community.
He also said Mavrommatis and his family had long served as a bridge of friendship between Cyprus and France, helping to strengthen Franco-Cypriot ties through their presence and activity in Paris.
The president said that despite his international success, Mavrommatis had always remained deeply connected to his roots and to Cyprus, the place where he was born and raised.
He said Mavrommatis’ death left a major void not only in gastronomy but also in the Cypriot Greek diaspora.
