Celebrity Chef Interview: Pierre Gagnaire

Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire and head chef at his Dubai restaurant, Olivier Biles, discuss the pros and cons of operating fine-dining establishments at five-star hotels

Watching French chefs Pierre Gagnaire and Olivier Biles work together is fascinating. They huddle together in the kitchen of Gagnaire’s Dubai restaurant Reflets — at which Biles is head chef — with just a notepad, pencil and eraser as their tools.

They speak practically in whispers, quietly discussing the detail of the menu for the next service, which has the tendency to change depending on the ingredients fresh that day, or the whim of the chef to add a different element or plate a new design. The quest is for constant perfection, and this comes down to the details.

“Every morning you must be enthusiastic, you must feel that today you will make the best,” says Gagnaire, revealing the philosophy that has driven his culinary success over the past few decades.

“Talent is not enough, you must work, work, work, work, and dedicate [yourself] to your job. The creativity is magic. You don’t know when it’s coming. The only thing I can say is you must concentrate on that and focus on [your] work.”

Gagnaire’s own dedication has spanned more than 45 years and his achievements have made him one of the culinary world’s most respected gastronomes and restaurateurs, admired for his peaceful nature and cool charm as well as his cooking genius. A proponent of molecular gastronomy, Gagnaire is famous for his fusion of culinary art and scientific knowledge and his work with French physical chemist Herve This.

The 11 Michelin stars the chef has been awarded for his epic restaurants in France (six stars), London, Hong Kong and Tokyo speak for themselves, and he also has a restaurant in Berlin opening this year.

In the UAE, he opened Reflets Par Pierre Gagnaire at InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City in May 2008 under head chef Biles, who has grown up working with Gagnaire. Bringing his mentor’s unique French tastes to the Middle East was by no means easy, and Biles admits that it has taken the past four years to get the restaurant where he wants it to be.

“Step by step the restaurant is coming on but it took time — at least four years now. Now it’s time for more maturity for the restaurant, to go into more details, not just to add things, but to make sure what we’ve done is stable. We are looking for long-term,” says Biles.

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The first hurdle
Establishing the supply chain in Dubai was the first challenge and Biles says it took 18 months to two years to ensure he could get every ingredient he wanted.

Two of the restaurant’s main suppliers are Classic Fine Foods and Fresh Express, and Biles commends both, but sourcing product still consumes a lot of the chef’s time.

“For me this is the biggest [draw] on my time; the sourcing and the quality of the product. It’s 80% of my time, out of my service time which is already four hours at lunch and four hours at dinner.

But I spend my life on the phone. I think I spend one hour and a half per day just to check the product, what is the price in Paris, what is in season, so we try to follow the French season.

For example, I have been waiting for asparagus for four weeks now, as it’s too cold in France and the few asparagus that [are available] are going into Paris.

We cannot manage all the suppliers, they tell us there is some from Chile, from Australia, but I am waiting for some from this small village and I won’t cook any from anywhere else,” asserts Biles. This is partly why the menu is so subject to change, with the team learning new menus in matter of minutes.

“There is not a star dish. When one dish is finished we move it. As soon as a dish is perfect, what’s the point of keeping it any more?” proffers Biles.

“We adapt or change, every day we print a new menu. Sometimes you have items that only last only a few weeks, like smaller berries. So we get one importation and we do it for two weeks and we change again,” says Biles.

“It’s good for regular guests because it doesn’t get boring. We try to fit with the French season to the maximum. For example, the sea urchin season will finish in two weeks, we could follow from Australia, sea urchins from Australia are not bad, we could do it, but for our guests we try to keep one identity.

They know that when they come here in winter they know they will eat a French black winter truffle, and it will not be a truffle from China or somewhere,” he asserts.

Gagnaire nods along, his respect for his head chef apparent, as he emphasises the importance of establishing that bond with Reflets’ customers that Biles alludes to.

“They come for the food, not for the show. It’s the same in all the restaurants that I work in across the world. You build the relationship with the guest. We call it friend-guest. There are many people when they leave the restaurant, they kiss Olivier because they love him,” says Gagnaire. And when it comes to produce, the only factor limiting chefs is themselves, he continues.

“The limit is not the price, the limit is our limit — our limit is to offer an acceptable price for the menu, because if you are too expensive, people won’t come back,” says Gagnaire. “[The challenge is] to understand the city, to understand the problem of transport, you must manage the produce, because we try to always have fresh produce. We must work with that,” he adds.

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Working for pleasure
But it’s not all business with Gagnaire; he is keen to emphasise the need for chefs to keep the pleasure in their work.

“It’s what I try to teach Olivier: you must pay attention, not to go too quickly, it’s like a marathon, you must manage your life.

“Sometimes you must push, and sometimes you must take time for yourself,” he counsels.

Biles says he strives to pass this on to his team: “We try to respect our guys, to give them responsibility and to treat them properly, we give to them what they give to us — a lot.

At least everyone is happy and we try to make it as comfortable [as possible], everyone is far from their family and everyone is a little bit lonely and it doesn’t make sense for them to get [stressed] at work.

“We are a small team but we have a big structure around us from the hotel which is really organised…a great working environment.”

Gagnaire too is keen to credit the support of the hotel environment InterContinental provides, without which he doesn’t think Reflets could operate.

“I think with a kind of restaurant like Reflets, if we were alone, it would be difficult to manage. For the menu. This kind of restaurant, if we are not busy for two or three days it is not [too bad], because we have the hotel, and we do not have this stress.

When you are alone it is very stressful because it is difficult to manage. Here we have the business of the rooms,” observes Gagnaire, who operates all his restaurants out of hotels bar London’s Sketch.

However, he says this can only work if the head chef is allowed the time he needs to be creative and cook, with the hotel’s other departments supporting him.

“Sometimes there’s a problem in a big hotel for the chef,” admits Gagnaire. “Olivier is lucky because here there is enough protection. In a hotel the chef must make so many orders, have so many meetings, spend time, so he cannot cook, and the chef [is supposed to] cook! You must make money... but your real job is to cook.”

And with that, the pair turn back to their notebooks, scribbling down their latest inspirations, while the team quietly prepare behind them; it’s easily the calmest kitchen I’ve ever been in.

“We must work!” declares Gagnaire, and they are soon immersed in their culinary bubble.

I say my farewells and retreat carefully, leaving the chefs to do what they love best; cooking.