Interview: Joël Robuchon

There are a lot of trends in the culinary landscape. What would you like to see happen in the global food scene?

All this time, there’s always been fashion in the culinary industry. In our generation, it started with nouvelle cuisine, then fusion, and lately molecular gastronomy. There will always be new trends – it’s like a life cycle: birth, life, and death. I believe that we’ll focus more on healthy food next. Personally, that is also my wish.  When I have a choice between two products of the same quality, I will go for the healthier product (e.g. organic ingredients). These days, people worry about what they eat and they care about the quality of the ingredients.

I have connected with a lot of professors in the US to learn more about healthy eating. I’ve learnt a lot from these experts who are trying to find ways to cure cancer. In my dishes, I plan to use products with antioxidants, including spices and fruits such as fresh rosemary, turmeric, pomegranate and tomato juice.  I’m experimenting with all these ingredients and I try to adapt them into my cooking.

Meanwhile, we are facing problems with the supply of proteins like fish and meat. For example, we have issues with the global fishing quota, and we face problems such as heavy metals in seafood or diseases in animals. Hence, we may not be able to produce enough. In future, I believe that we are going to focus more on vegetables in cooking.

How do you remain competitive in this business? And how do you reinvent yourself?

For me, there’s no competition — I don’t want to be better than somebody else. We compete against ourselves. We always try to achieve quality and perfection. Nothing is ever gained. Every day you have to put your work back onto the table and try to achieve it better.  That’s my philosophy.  It’s never good enough. Every day is a new challenge and we have to do better with each day.

You’ve been a mentor to many top chefs. What advice do you have for young cooks these days?

There are a lot of competent new chefs all over the world. My advice is not to follow the trends too much. Instead, see what the trend is, learn what’s good about it, and try to put your own personality in the food. They shouldn’t just follow trends by copying what others are doing. Also, young chefs should travel as much as they can. It’s a great opportunity to travel and see what’s is happening around the world.

You are opening in Bangkok this year. Why did you choose to open in this city?

When I choose to open a restaurant in a new place, the most important thing is to make sure there are ingredients of high quality; which is the case in Bangkok. I’m attracted by Thai cuisine because there’s a real culture in the food. I’m familiar with Thailand too, as I was invited to cook there about 15 years ago.  It’s also important to have good relationship with business partners in these new cities.

Do you have plans to open more restaurants in Asia or other parts of the world? 

In Asia, I have another project coming up in Mumbai, India. I am attracted to open there because in India you can find very good vegetarian cuisine – I like the way they cook vegetables using spices and in a refined manner. And I want to learn how Indians cook their vegetables. From there, I will use my own skill to follow this next “trend”. At the end of the year, I will also open a restaurant in Bordeaux, and this will be followed by New York.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Hotel Michael Level 1, Resorts World Sentosa. Tel: 6577 6688. www.rwsentosa.com