Restaurants

THe appliance of science

From the lab to the kitchen, Heston Blumenthal’s work continues its eclectic evolution. Danny Bowman chats to the pioneering chef

Brand Heston is a curious thing to consider. On one hand, a chef, chemist, restaurateur and television personality whose disregard for the conventions and normalities of cuisine saw him transform a food industry. On the other, a person who, certainly in recent years, has turned away from a level of selfpromotion that matches the eccentricity of the dining experiences he and his incredible team provide.

“The food has to always talk louder than the voices in the kitchen,” he begins. “I feel once you have a name whose status comes before what’s plated up, you’re in real danger of losing sight of what dining should be about, and that’s an intense, interesting, personal experience.

“Put another way, people don’t go to restaurants to sit across the table from a Michelin-starred chef – just as well, because for 99 per cent of services they won’t be there anyway.”

Heston’s desire to move away from the glaring urgency of the spotlight was, in truth, down to a combination of events. There was the launch (and recent liquidation) of his restaurant, Dinner, in Melbourne, the breakdown of his marriage, and a nagging voice in the back of his head that perhaps the public had seen enough of him.

“When I’m skirting between chat shows, public events, business meetings, product launches and so much else, am I really dedicating all the time I should be to the 500 or so dishes we have in progression at any one time?” he questions. “That became a fear of mine – I didn’t want to go too far the other way.”

The 54-year-old’s ‘return to the floor’, so to speak, is little surprise. After all, this is a man who has built up an exclusive empire through sheer hard work and determination, identifying and capitalising on trends – and starting a fair few of them himself. He brought us ‘multisensory cooking’ because he worked out the role senses other than taste play in our enjoyment of food. Having his diners listen to their food through headphones may seem a step too far for some, but for Blumenthal it’s his bread and butter. Such things are not gimmicks, as much as they may appear so; each step on the journey of discovery is about adding to the experience, the flavour, the enjoyment.

“What I set out to do is entertain and engage people in food,” he says. “Some people just want to obsess with the science stuff, but for me it’s all about exploring the possibilities – and yes, there’s an element of showmanship there too.”

From ice cream desserts disguised as pork pies to ice-cream mince meat, snail porridge and themed dishes such as Jack and the Beanstalk magic beans, Blumenthal’s food origins had been typical of many chefs. He was inspired at a young age, with the seed of ambition germinating through adolescence and into the eureka moment – for him, that was a trip to France when he was 15.

“It was a magical experience – the smell of the lavender, the noise of the crickets and the sound of the gravel underfoot as I walked inside. I suddenly had a clear path ahead for what I was going to do with my life.” And yet,

almost from that moment forwards, everything the chef has done has been served up in all manner of weirdness, with convoluted twists on the food narrative. It’s not been a constant path at all.

From opening the 42-cover Fat Duck in Bray, complete with its 14-course menu, back in 1995, Heston has been inherently aware that diners crave new ideas and originality. “Trends and tastes change,” he muses, “but the good food will always remain.” And sure, accusations of pretentiousness may circle, but they don’t stick. He is simply a man for whom adventurous endeavour comes naturally.

“Our love of innovation starts with a love of food. The whole team is fascinated by the versatility, flavour, texture, colour and vibrancy of what raw ingredients offer us, and it is my belief we have only just scratched the surface in terms of how far we can take what we eat. The combinations are completely endless, and I’m sure my own so-called idiosyncrasies will begin to look tame as a new wave of creators and innovators come into the market to do great things.”

While the restaurant trade has found itself comatose during the global Covid-19 pandemic, Heston – who has fronted TV shows In Search of Perfection, Kitchen Chemistry, Heston’s Feasts and Heston’s Fantastical Food, as well as performing judging duties on MasterChef Australia – believes a celebration of food is as much to do with what we create at home as it is eating out. “We are all creators in our own way, and I love that. No one should be beholden to a big-name chef – we can all create amazing food that unites people.”

It’s not just food, of course. Just as any successful business leader fosters an image, as much around their achievements as their physical characterisation – think Richard Branson’s beard for example, or Jamie Oliver’s ‘professional, pukka scruffiness’ – Blumenthal’s distinctive spectacles are such that it’s hard to imagine him without them. Business opportunity? Absolutely.

Teaming up with glasses retailer Vision Express to create his own range became something of a logical progression. “Years ago I remember finishing service one night, looking through the orders and my eyes started to go,” he recalls. “It was as though they felt tired but I wasn’t tired; just my eyes were. I had eye tests, found out I needed glasses and I started wearing them – for some reason I think the very first pair of glasses I wore were designed by me! I based them on a protective pair of engineering goggles because we were dealing with so much science in the kitchen.”

Of course, keeping an eye on business is as much about the day-to-day supervision of the empire as it is keeping things fresh. His work/life balance is undoubtedly calmer now than it was six or seven years ago when you could barely pick up a lifestyle magazine without spotting some reference to the mercurial chef.

“It can be tricky finding the right mix,” he says. “For me it’s two-fold. It’s my own enjoyment, but also the pleasure derived by others, and that’s what always keeps me going, even when I should hold back.

“It will always be like that, I think. After all, if, as a chef, you’ve lost that thrill of making others happy, it’s time to get out of the kitchen.

“I love the science of food, but I adore the appreciation of it more.”

Restaurant focus Ultraviolet, Shanghai

‘Avant-garde’ food and a multisensory dining experience put Paul Pairet’s restaurant in a league of its own, writes Martha Johnson

It’s fair to say that Ultraviolet is a restaurant like no other. Opened in Shanghai in May 2012, the single-table venture by French chef Paul Pairet and the VOL Group has emerged as one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world – and the first in China to become part of the Les Grandes Tables du Monde. In 2018, the restaurant received three Michelin stars. The experience, to some extent, defies description.

“Ultraviolet is the first restaurant of its kind uniting food with multisensory technology to create a fully immersive dining experience,” Pairet says. “A single table of ten seats only; a 20-course ‘avant-garde’ set menu; all the guests sit together and dinner unfolds as a sensory play choreographed by the Ultraviolet Team begins.”

The restaurant, we’re told, is specially equipped with multisensory, high-end technology for experiential eating. The dining room is dressed up

by lights, sounds, “music, scents… a cool air blow, an immersive projection, images and imagination…”.

Those familiar with Pairet’s career will know this level of acclaim and success was inevitable. After stints in Hong Kong, Sydney and Jakarta, the French-born chef first came to international attention at Paris’s Cafe Mosaic, where he began to hone his ‘French-but-not-French’ style. His output at Mosaic caught the attention of the legendary chef Alain Ducasse, who arranged Pairet’s next move to Istanbul, at the Ritz-Carlton’s Cam. Pairet came to China in 2005 to open Jade on 36, the flagship restaurant of the Shangri-La Hotel Pudong, creating his own venture, Mr & Mrs Bund, four years later (which he still runs, along with French café Polux). A more traditional style for Pairet, the restaurant quickly became known as Shanghai’s best French restaurant and reached number 43 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2013.

From there, it was on to Ultraviolet – the realisation and exquisite execution of Pairet’s experience to date. “Provocative and innovative, [Pairet’s] creative flair, daring experimentation and inspired dishes continue to influence chefs around the world,” declared Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2016. It has been said that Pairet is a culinary egalitarian, using tinned sardines to produce sophisticated fine dining and avant-garde techniques to produce simple French dishes. Dishes, which carry names such as ‘Luna Mushroom’ (Grand Marnier, Yakult) and ‘Alabone Primitive’ (Yuzu, dill, fire), are barely recognisable as that – they’re more works of art. He famously – perhaps infamously – argued that foie gras is not intrinsically more suited to fine dining than a piece of bread, or a truffle more interesting than CocaCola. “Above all, flavours should taste divine, assertive, sending taste buds into raptures, and the mind travelling on a bite through countries or fond memories,” he says.

New beginnings

Following an enforced closer during lockdown, Ultraviolet is now open. The restaurant tells us it has seen a dramatic decrease in international diners – who mostly come to Shanghai for business or international events

– allowing more locals to enjoy Pairet’s creations. “Now the business comes from local customers; thanks to the local support, Ultraviolet’s table has been full again since the reopening,” says Monica Luo, the restaurant’s director of communications.

Guests all sit around the same table, but groups are allowed to book out the entire restaurant. Luo says there have been a few more private bookings since lockdown was lifted, but not from regular customers. Instead, corporate groups from luxury brands have taken advantage of the intimate space. “As most of the major events and activities from those brands were cancelled [or moved] this year, one of the potential alternatives to keep the marketing and communication flow is to offer their VIP customers a rare dining experience while being attached to their branding at basic level,” she says.

When the situation allows, it’s a restaurant that’s worth travelling for. Food doesn’t taste – or indeed look – like this anywhere else.