The Future Belongs to the Young
by Qian Leung
@ 22 Jun 2018
The thing you remember most about Chef Yves Camdeborde is his playfulness. “Yes, I am quite mischievous, a bit of a young spirit, like a teenager,” admits the 53-year-old, who was born in the southwest of France, in Pau. “I never did exactly what I was asked to.” After working at The Ritz Paris and La Tour d'Argent, he set up his first restaurant, La Régalade, at age 28. For the past twelve years, he’s been managing Relais Saint-Germain. On bistronomy, which he is most known for, he says, “A famous chef once said, ‘You don’t go to the restaurant to eat the curtains.’” Before, the heritage of French gastronomy from the 16th century, as well as that of famous chefs, such as Escoffier, were held in such high regard that not many dared to innovate. “Take Béarnaise sauce, for example,” says Chef Camdeborde. “In the past, nobody would touch it because it was such a traditional recipe.” But in the 1990s, as chefs started visiting Asia, northern Africa, or the United States, they found inspiration and began to break with the past, redefining recipes.
Back when he was at Hotel Crillon, where he was working under the head chef, the path that had been laid out for him was to be the head chef in a big hotel. “I said, ‘No, I’m not interested in that. I’m going to buy a small restaurant in a small neighbourhood in Paris, and I’m going to do my own thing.” People told him he was crazy, but to him, it was more intimate, personal, fun, and filled with laughter. As if to prove the naysayers wrong, in 1996, the restaurant was doing so well that it had a one year pre-booking, holding the Guinness record for the longest waiting list for a restaurant. While chefs are often in the spot light, Chef Camdeborde believes that much credit goes to the farmers, winemakers, and producers in France who get up early each morning to tend to their carrots, vines, or lambs. On the Michelin guide and the controversies it has stirred up in Asian cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul, he says, “It’s the same situation in France, people don’t understand how they attribute the stars.” He cites two well-known restaurants, and says matter-of-factly, “Neither of them deserves the three stars.” It appears that the guide has lost much of the credibility it used to hold.
While many chefs whom I meet usually complain that the new generation of chefs aren’t working long enough hours, Chef Camdeborde offers a different perspective. “My grandfather judged my father, because he was doing things differently, and my father judged me, because I was doing things differently.” Now, he has a 28-year-old son who doesn’t want to do what he does. “For the older generations, the cooking involved a lot of work labouring over the stove, with lots of sauces to be made. The new generation has moved on to techniques which are more about the presentation and ‘amazing looking things, like a piece of art’. “I wouldn’t want to judge, because while I had focused on my professional life so much, I realised that at some point, things did go wrong in my private life.” Having tried some of these new techniques, he thinks they are interesting, and while they seem to be to be more simplistic, he believes that the future belongs to the new generation. “There’s no way they’re going to go back to our techniques; we have to adapt to their way of living.” He cites the chefs who open a restaurant in France, and say, “I’m closed at lunch time, and I only do dinner two days a week.” For him, when he opened his restaurant, he worked seven days a week, morning to evening for six months. “Was I right to do it? Sure, maybe I made a bit more money than they did, but then my private life went down the drain.” He thinks it would be better to look to their direction, rather than ask them to look at our direction. “The reason I believe in youths so much, is because I would actually love to be young again.”
Relais Saint Germain
9 Carrefour de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris, France
Tel: (33) 1 44 27 07 97
Adapted from the
May Jun 18 issue of Cuisine & Wine Asia.
