A Matter of Taste

Even for France’s history of fine chefs, Pierre Gagnaire has made a special name for himself. Crave meets the culinary legend and learns how his global reach has not altered how he judges good food.

Text by P.Ramakrishnan, images courtesy of Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

I am sitting with the legendary French chef Pierre Gagnaire at the bar in his restaurant Pierre at the Mandarin Oriental hours before the first customers arrive. Outside the rain is pelting down and Hong Kong is not looking its best. But Gagnaire, ever the gentleman, is speaking generously of the city.

Aside from his restaurant in Tokyo, this is his only establishment in Asia and he clearly has an affection for this city.

“It was the right time, and the right place,” he says of his decision to open a restaurant here. “There was another restaurant at the top floor of the Mandarin before. It was great, so I never thought I would open here but the right opportunity arose. In my career, the right timing has always come along.”

With his suave good looks and gallant demeanour, one feels Gagnaire, 60, could have cut it as a movie star had he turned his hand to acting. Fortunately for the culinary world, he applied his immense gifts to cooking and his story is one of almost unblemished success.

Born in Apinac, in France’s Loire Valley, by the age of 18, he was already a commis chef and within two years he was a cook admiral on the French submarine Surcouf. During the 1970s, he travelled the world, returning to France to work at Clos Fleury, a restaurant run by his father near Saint Etienne. He was honoured with his first Michelin star in 1977, which enabled him to go solo and open a restaurant in the centre of Saint Etienne. In 1986, a second Michelin star followed for a different restaurant, and in 1993, the coveted third star.

Now he is the holder of multiple Michelin stars and has restaurants all over the world (Paris, London, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Seoul, Dubai and Hong Kong). Such is his reputation internationally, the French government bestowed him the grand title of Commandeur des Arts & Lettres.

But ask him to recall his early days and there are no misty-eyed recollections. “I absolutely hated working in the kitchen when I was young,” he tells me.

“The restaurant business is a terrible business. Everyone worked from dawn to late night – early morning, in fact. Everyone was busy running here and there. And then the restaurant failed.” His venture in Saint Etiene eventually closed despite glowing reviews.

“I wasn’t planning a career in cooking,” he recalls. “The chef’s life was not good before. A lot of stress. The ambience was not good. You never see your family. No, I certainly didn’t like it at all.”

But while he might not have liked it, the French public most certainly liked his cooking. Besides the Michelin stars, he was asked to cook for a heads of state summit lunch at the Arche de la Défense during François Mitterrand’s presidency.

“I remember very well why the first restaurant failed – the city was too small,” he says of the Saint Etienne debacle. “The people were not ready for such high-end cuisine. I learned a lot from the closing of the first restaurant. This was more than 40 years ago. The customers were not there for fine dining. Yes, I do think we learn from our mistakes more than our successes.”

Gagnaire’s career took a turn for the better when he began a fruitful partnership with Hervé This, Collège de France professor and father of Molecular Gastronomy, in 2001.

It was during this period that Gagnaire really developed his culinary philosophy, which he describes as “mixing the old with the new, traditional cooking style with modern sophistication”. Hervé This helped him understand how the basic chemical compounds in food affects taste and how to develop a harmony of flavours.

A good example to be found on the menu at Pierre at the Mandarin Oriental is red mullet poached with garlic and lemon. This signature dish wasn’t just thrown at the wall to see if it would stick. There’s a refined science behind it: every element – from taste and texture, aroma and flavour – has been calculated right down to the harmony of the colours on the plate.

Ever modest, Gagnaire prefers to ignore such plaudits when we chat and says, “None of that matters; does it taste good? That’s all I essentially care about.”

Pierre
25/F, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central
Tel: 2825 4001

My Favourite Things with Pierre Gagnaire

1. Fine dining is an art. Would you agree?

Yes, but to me, food is an emotion. For me, what I serve is an emotion. I put a lot of attention into what I’m making. I’m nourishing someone, I’m feeding someone, I care about what I make.

2. Does the trend for organic, vegetarian and healthy food affect your menu?

Yes. But I’m lucky that I’ve always worked with natural ingredients. I can make an entire menu that’s purely vegetarian. This was years ago, way before the trend for organic food. In France, everything was organic. We worked with what produce was available to us.

3. Do you change your menus in your restaurant around the world to match local tastes?

No. Fine dining here is the same as fine dining in London or Paris or Las Vegas. Well, with perhaps a little less spice.

4. Which Asian culinary traditions do you admire?

When I travelled to Japan years ago, the food presentation there changed my way of thinking. Presentation became very important and it still is. But it’s always absolutely about the taste. You must get pleasure when you eat. That comes from taste. Hong Kong has choices which I like and an elegance.

5. Is fine dining the way to woo a woman?

It can be. Of course!

6. Is that how you seduced your wife?

My wife? She likes Thai food. Curries. And you know what I do! It’s completely different. But I’m glad my wife isn’t in awe of me and the cooking. You can’t have a balanced married life if a partner is in awe of the other.

7. What do you like to make and eat?

It changes every day, depending on the city I am in, my mood, the ambience … what I feel. You know what I want right now more than anything in the world? A glass of water with a slice of lemon. I’m a simple man.