Chef interview: Philippe Daue

Philippe Daue hosted a chocolate tasting session at Godiva Café, The Beach Mall, Dubai [Photo: Ruel Pableo/ITP Images]

What brings you to the UAE this time?

I’m here to assist our Dubai team in developing new items and seasonal selections for our Godiva chocolate cafés in the UAE, and also to explore the possibilities of pairing local products with premium Godiva chocolate. We want to also show our skill in creating chocolate products of a different kind: pastries, biscuits, ice cream, desserts, et cetera. People here have always had a sweet tooth, and that’s why we are working on creating a new range of products for this market.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

I’m extremely lucky to have one of those rare jobs where I can live my passion on a daily basis, and at the same time offer happiness to so many people through what I make. I always create something new, but also I follow the same traditions, I use same good–quality ingredients, and I have same celebration and passion when I make chocolate… I smell it and taste it, and I still haven’t been bored with it. Waking up in the morning knowing that I will be dealing with chocolate the whole day, what could be better? I love challenging myself and I always push the boundaries of chocolate creation. There are lots of things that inspire me, but nothing compares with my love for chocolate.

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Top three ingredients in your kitchen?

Besides chocolate: vanilla, sea salt, hazelnuts.

Is there anything you haven’t done yet that you would like to achieve?

I would like to do more research on pairing chocolate with savoury and unusual ingredients, the more adventurous part of the job. I would also like to travel to remote parts of the world to visit some small cocoa producing haciendas, and join in the artisanal cocoa farming.

What has been your favourite F&B experience?

Opening cafés in countries I’ve never been to before is really exciting. It’s an immersion in a different culture through chocolate work and it’s full of surprises. Tastes around the world are very different, and it is a constant learning and adaptation process to come up with a menu offer that both reflects the quality of our brand and is relevant to the local market. That’s why I came to Dubai — to meet new people and explore their taste. I strongly believe that the diverse cultures and tastes make the best chocolate.

Are you seeing any upcoming trends?

There’s a global trend towards focusing on the quality and the origin of the ingredients. For example, people do not want just a generic nut in their chocolate any more; rather, they want a nut that comes from a specific region, which has been sustainably farmed, and has been handled in an artisanal way. The availability of cocoa beans to meet the growing demand for chocolate will be all chocolatiers’ biggest challenge worldwide.

What advice will you give anyone hoping to become a chocolatier?

Be patient and work on developing the basic skills first, this takes time but it is a necessary process before starting to elaborate into esthetics and fancy work. A chocolatier’s job is to explore people’s taste. Chocolate is something special that gives you a good feeling, is an amazing medium to work with, and being creative is a very important part of this journey. New recipes to be developed, new tastes, new textures, the way it melts, and new smells, seeing all this every day — it’s just amazing! The most satisfying experience is to see the reaction of people when asking what I do in life, and I tell them I’m a Godiva chocolatier, every single time it generates a huge smile.