Chef reaches for the stars

2008-12-02 23:16

Paris - After slamming the door a decade ago on the high-stress world of gastronomy, celebrity French chef Joel Robuchon on Tuesday became far and away the world's most starred chef, as well as master and commander of a thriving foodie empire.

At the head of 16 restaurants worldwide, Robuchon, 63, who initially learned to cook with nuns was awarded extra stars on Tuesday by the Michelin culinary bible for his establishments in Hong Kong and Macau.

That brings his global total of coveted Michelin stars to 24 - well ahead of his nearest competitor and rival compatriot Alain Ducasse, who has 16, or Britain's Gordon Ramsay, with 12. US chef Thomas Keller is next with seven.

Quiet, thoughtful and relaxed - at least when away from a kitchen - Robuchon walked out of his luxury three-star eponymous Paris establishment in 1996, when at the pinnacle of his success, saying: "There's too much stress, I want to live."

But seven years later, the man always simply dressed in black was back, opening the first of his trend-setting minimalist eateries, l'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Joel Robuchon's Workshop), now also in London, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

"I have an idea for something different," he said at the time. "I didn't close one three-star place to open another."

Reinventing the restaurant, Robuchon offered diners no tables, no bookings and no black-tied maitre d's.

Instead, a kitchen opened onto a circular bar with 36 stools, enabling clients to watch the cooking and order small tapas-style portions of whatever took their fancy.

"Times have changed," he said. "People want less sophisticated but quality cooking, and they want atmosphere.

What exactly was his concept? "To do the opposite of what others are doing!"

"Everyone nowadays is into 'fusion' cuisine. We will stick to French cuisine, but offer a 'fusion' restaurant, with a bit of Japan and a bit of Spain."

In line with his taste for simplicity, Robuchon's other restaurants are similarly baptised simply La Table (The Table) or La Cuisine (The Kitchen).

Robuchon, whose father was a builder and mother a cleaner, began cooking at boarding-school before being apprenticed at 15 and at 28 was named the country's top worker.

At barely 36, he was running his own restaurant in Paris and awarded the Michelin guide's coveted three-star status just three years later.

Celebrated for seamless potato puree, foie gras soup or caviar and cabbage jelly, as well as for ending the leek-on-a-plate pretentiousness of nouvelle cuisine at its worst, in 1990 he was declared "chef of the century" by the rival guide to the Michelin, Gault-Millau.

Then, in 1996, he threw it all in after seeing too many chefs die young or grow old too soon in the pressure-cooker world of high gastronomy.

"A good dish", he said. "Like a good wine has a strong attack and a long finish", meaning distinctive initial taste and after-taste.

"Nowadays, a lot of dishes have a strong attack, but a while later you can't even remember what it was you ate!"

- AFP