A workshop to the glory of butter

Iconoclast minded and passionate, Jean-Yves Bordier loves innovating. He did it with his own butter which adorn prestigious tables and whose fame has spread far and wide.

Unsalted, lightly salted or fully salted, it goes without saying, but also with seaweed (as refreshing as a big breath of ocean spray), with Espelette pepper (penetrating), with yuzu, Japanese grapefruit (so delicate) or with smoked salt, according to the best Scandinavian tradition (reviving).

His employees , or he, shape right in front of the customers big lumps of butter, skillfully using exotic wooden paddles. He has proclaimed himself « a butter freak », has a sense of show and proverbial vividness. In Saint-Malo, he owns two dairy stores, the most astonishing of which being inside the old city, behind the tall granite walls of the austere and hieratic Breton city. Two third of the space are kept as a « discovery area » that looks like Aladdin’s cave, with its subtle association of country museums (forty odd antique objects are exposed) and the latest museography area ( large blue enlightened display boards explain the history of butter with original documents, backed up with many anecdotes). « Eating is a cultural action, one is always connected to the past » he insists.

The store is built within an ancient Benedictine convent dated 1604, and exists since 1927. Jean-Yves Bordier acquired it in 1985 and transformed it in « Maison du beurre ». Slate, exotic woods, black marble… the retailer cultivates sophistication and as a history passionate, he notices that cheeses became « luxury products ».

(*) Watch his video on the Net ! Write « Lipdub bordier » on your search engine.