French-inspired restaurant aims to be 'Trésor' of St. Aubin

Friday 02 December 2022

A new restaurant opening on the site of former steak and sushi restaurant Shinzo is hoping to become the new treasure of St. Aubin’s Bay, serving “high quality food at affordable prices”.

Trésor, which translates to ‘treasure’ in French, is hoping to open its door next week to offer a French and British inspired menu with a focus on local seasonal produce.

Although the restaurant itself is new, the team behind it boasts extensive experience in the hospitality industry across Jersey and further afield.

Tresor will be headed up by partners, Dorin Alexandru Milosescu (Alex) and Vasile Cosmin Popa (Cosmin). 

Pictured: Cosmin (left) and Alex (right) will be joint partners in running Trésor.

Prior to this endeavour, Cosmin worked as the manager of Quayside restaurant for the past eight years, whilst Alex has managed both the Boathouse and the Bastille during that time.

Alex explained that the pair met by chance, before realising that they had a lot in common and shared the “same ideas and passions”.

They both shared the same dream of running their own restaurant, so it seemed like fate when the opportunity to take over the old Shinzo premises in St. Aubin arose. 

The owner of the Shinzo building used to be the owner of the Boathouse when Alex worked there, and he therefore reached out to offer him the opportunity to run a restaurant there.

Alex said: “The owner has a lot of confidence in us which is really reassuring. People with much more money than us were interested in taking over the old Shinzo building, but he thought that if anybody could make it a success then we could!”

Pictured: Trésor plans to open its door to the public next week.

While Cosmin will focus on managing the restaurant, Alex will be working hard behind the scenes on the more financial elements of running a business.

The duo’s dream for Trésor is to offer “high quality food which is affordable for everybody”.

Hoping to open next week, the “fine dining” restaurant will be offering a range of French and British inspired food, serving dishes such as chateaubriand, crab souffle, vol-au-vents, foie gras and tomahawk steak.

The menu will be constantly changing as, as well as having a “creative” chef who has previously worked in Michelin star restaurants, Trésor will also be aiming to support local agriculture by adapting the food offering based on the season. 

Alex said: “We are quite ambitious with high goals, and hope that we can bring something different to Jersey.

“There will be no compromises on quality with everything being made in house, including all of our sauces. We plan to work harder than other restaurants.”

Alex admitted that him and Cosmin have been lucky to not face any issues when recruiting staff, as they already knew so many people who work in the hospitality and catering industries. 

Alex explained: “We have been lucky to create a team of passionate individuals who share the same goal as us. Our team is like a family; everyone has an input and something to add to help make Trésor the best it can be.”

Despite managing to secure reliable staff members, the three months of preparation has not been completely without problems.

Alex explained that one of the main challenges has been supply issues with products that cannot be sourced locally.

Pictured: Trésor will be operating from the premises formerly occupied by Shinzo.

In addition, recent bad weather has also impacted the cost and availability of seafood which forms a crucial part of Trésor’s menu.

Alex said: “With the price of fish at the moment, we’re barely going to cover the costs of our seafood dishes. However, it is more important to us to ensure value for our customers.” 

Alex added that the team couldn’t wait to get started, explaining: “Our doors are open for everybody!” 

Pictured top: A batch of petit fours made in house at Trésor, including bergamont, lemon and basil, girrotine cherry, rum and raisin, and rosemary, honey and olive oil