i. Biography
Coming Up
Apprenticeship in the south of France set the technical base before Paris entered the picture. At L'Aphrodite / Aphrodite restaurant in Nice, France (until 2012), Julia Sedefdjian worked inside a Mediterranean register where olive oil, produce, maritime freshness, and directness of flavor were not decorative ideas but daily materials. The training belongs to the older logic of the trade: fundamentals first, repetition before authorship. Restaurant administration can be an entry point into the machinery of a dining room as much as a detour from the stove. In 2012, Sedefdjian moved from Nice to the capital for administrative work at Les Fables de la Fontaine in Paris, France (from 2012), then moved into kitchen responsibility as sous-chef at Les Fables de la Fontaine (until 2015). The progression from office work to sous-chef to chef / head of cuisine at Les Fables de la Fontaine (2015–2018) shows a concentrated transfer of trust inside one house rather than a résumé built by accumulation. That kind of ascent is narrow and demanding. The apprenticeship supplied fundamentals; the city supplied pressure and hierarchy; the head-of-cuisine role required decisions, not just execution. In Sedefdjian’s case, the craft record is less about many addresses than about increasing responsibility within a small number of kitchens. Since 2018, the independent expression of that training has been Baieta / La Baieta, where Sedefdjian is founder / chef. The address gives the Provençal and Niçoise register a metropolitan setting without treating the south as nostalgia. The work turns on ownership of a language already present in the training: Mediterranean ingredients, clarity, and controlled generosity.
The Work Today
Provençal and Niçoise cooking at Baieta is handled as a working repertoire, not a fixed archive. Since 2018, Sedefdjian has used the restaurant as the center of her work, building dishes described as innovative and daring while keeping the southern line legible. The reference points are bright, saline, generous, and exacting; the table is contemporary Paris. Mediterranean-rooted cooking here is defined by respect for ingredients, technical rigor, precision, and emotion. The balance matters: warmth without looseness, memory without sentimentality, generosity without excess. Tradition is not treated as a museum object, but neither is it discarded for novelty. The craft sits in the calibration between southern flavor and disciplined construction. The kitchen’s stated memory is plainspoken. Sedefdjian has said: “My childhood tastes of sunshine, of olive oil drizzled over a piece of focaccia, of dishes fragrant with the Mediterranean, simmered slowly without ever being complicated.” As a working description, it places value on clarity: olive oil, focaccia, Mediterranean fragrance, slow simmering, and the refusal to confuse depth with complication.
Signature
Signature dishes include Bouillabaieta and Pissaladière. The names mark the working ground: Provençal and Niçoise references kept recognizable, then adjusted through the Baieta idiom. Bouillabaieta carries the echo of a southern classic and the house name; Pissaladière points directly to the savory tradition of Nice. The signature is inheritance under revision, with precision doing the work that novelty often claims for itself.
Awards and Standing
Julia Sedefdjian has received Michelin Guide: Michelin star at Les Fables de la Fontaine (2016). Recognition in this record is tied to both apprenticeship and command. Julia Sedefdjian’s honors include Michelin star retained at Les Fables de la Fontaine (2016) and First prize, regional competition for Best Apprentice (2012). Read together, they mark an early trade distinction and a later confirmation inside a Paris kitchen. The continuity is the point: fundamentals recognized in 2012, then responsibility tested in a setting where maintaining the Michelin star at Les Fables de la Fontaine in 2016 was part of the chef’s public record.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Julia
Where did Julia Sedefdjian work before?
Earlier in their career, Julia Sedefdjian worked at L'Aphrodite / Aphrodite restaurant, Les Fables de la Fontaine, and Les Fables de la Fontaine.
What recognition has Julia Sedefdjian received?
Michelin star retained at Les Fables de la Fontaine (2016).
