TEXT Suzanne lazaroo

PhoTogRaPhy Mott Visuals

feature

In the house
of Pierre
Gagnaire
The Worlds Best Chef is carving out
another home for his culinary truth
and his global family of colleagues
at the impossibly beautiful La
Maison, InterContinental Danangs
home of ine dining.

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REnChED in white and light,

the dining salon of La Maison
1888 overlooks the Technicolour
waves washing up on Bai Bac beach in
Danang, Vietnam as does pretty much
every room of this gorgeous restaurant
at the InterContinental Danang Sun
Peninsula Resort.
But for once, the attention in the
room is focused away from the lure
of surf, sun and inspired design; it is
squarely on the igure in the middle.
arguably, Pierre gagnaire is the
worlds most famous chef voted
Worlds Best Chef by a jury of his peers
this year. Yet in person, he is selfeffacing, almost shy.
For 40 years, he has marched at the
head of the fusion cuisine movement,
but the ire which drives the 65-year-old
gagnaire is a matter of epiphany, rather
than birthright.
at the beginning, I didnt make
the choice to do this work, so I did it
for many years without any passion,
he said. But one day, I understood
that through food, one could create
emotions and build a story, like a poem.
In my work today, I always have the
impression that my life is at stake! It is
exciting and dangerous and tiring, all at
the same time.
his culinary poem is an epic, its
stanzas including the capture of three
Michelin stars in St. Etienne, France (he
cites this moment as one of his lifes
most important), and the expansion of
his restaurant empire across continents.
There have been diicult moments:
Gagnaire left St. Etienne for Paris in
1996, when he went bankrupt. But it
remains a tale of hard work paying off,
as he opened a new restaurant in the
same year, with the support of friends,
and regained that three-star position in
two short years.
In everything, you must be yourself
but also give the best of yourself. With
talent, you have it, or you dont and
thank God, if you do. If you have
talent, but dont work though, you have
nothing, he says.

Creativity is impossible to explain, he

says, but he does spend a lot of his time
alone thinking, wondering, wandering.
and always, with paper and pencil not
a pen, I may need to erase, he says.
Today, gagnaire is ensconced
in the luxurious conines of the
InterContinental Danang, at La
Maison the house now his latest
global outpost in a family of 14. He is
taking over from fellow Frenchman
Michel Roux, who helmed La Maison
for three years.
The Worlds Best Chef smiles a bit
more than he speaks (he is not silent,
but rather, very charming) and his tall
frame seems less so because he stoops
slightly. But his charisma cannot be
hidden although his power lies in quiet
determination, artistic and spiritual
contemplation and creative power and
pride in his team. His secret? It is just to
be myself, he shrugs.
gagnaire speaks in a language of
simple, lyrical philosophy (I love this
light. Is it old or new? It is beautiful,
that is all) but shies away from calling
himself an artist (I dont like to say Im
an artist an artist is dangerous, he is

facing page:
Pierre gagnaire, in the
doorway of Le Boudoir
de Madame.
above:
Anchovy illets with
fennel conit and
grilled squash.
gagnaire is always
most comfortable in
the kitchen.

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not bankable!).
In the kitchen though, he is a
different man. The smile is stilled,
although he seems more serious than
stern. Intensity and focus coalesce.
There is no shouting, no drama apart
from a lock of his long hair, which lies
around with each energetic gesture.
This is not about having a TV show,
he says. This is about a team. It is not
drama, but about building something,
day after day, step by step. My team is
the translator of my passion, and my job
is to build that team.
We know of gagnaires kitchen
demeanour not only because La
Maisons kitchen has a large viewing
window but because he is completely
welcoming of this small parcel of
journalists from across the AsiaPaciic region, not even blinking as we
station ourselves in what we think are
inconspicuous corners of the kitchen.
Weve travelled from across the
Asia-Paciic region to witness Gagnaire
making this house his own and to
experience the very irst meal at La
Maison, cooked by these most famous
French hands, and a team comprising
both local chefs and his own senior staff
who have travelled with him.
Being a chef transcends food. It is all
about people, according to Gagnaire.
I spend a lot of time explaining
what I wish, and understanding the
personalities of people around me, he
says. The human aspect is as important
as the act of cooking.
What he cares about more than
anything else, says gagnaire, is his
relationships, with his team and guests.
That man has cooked with me for 36
years, he says, pointing at one of his
chefs who has travelled with him. And I
have seven people like that.
The most important thing is that
when my guest inishes his dinner, he
has had a nice evening. It is simple to
say that, but it is not so easy to offer! it
is about the food, the service, the quality
of the air! It is, in the end, just details.
My job is to create the details.

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THIS HOUSE
Styled after a French colonial bungalow,
La Maison is built around a beautiful,
imaginary story, populated by a French
Eurasian family.
It is an open house with a luxurious
nature, on an always-changing ocean,
says Gagnaire, looking around the room.
Black and white, and a range of colours
to create an impression of rigour in this
shimmering atmosphere.
Each room is very different in
personality and style, dedicated to
a different family member. Vintage
counting machines are stacked to the
ceiling in the accountants Room; a
rainbow of old banknotes papers the
ceiling of the Travelers Room. Possibly
the most risque room in the house is
Le Boudoir de Madame, festooned with
startlingly pink feather boas, its lighting
kept suggestively low.
La Maison is a house of details, and
therefore, the very place in which to
create the details.
When the InterContinental
approached gagnaire with the
suggestion that he take La Maison over,
there was little hesitation on his part.
For me, Vietnam is a country full of
scents, colours, with a subtle cuisine,
beautiful landscape, and a culture with a
real personality, he says.
Six months later, this is gagnaires
irst visit to Vietnam after eight
years. Yesterday, when we arrived at
Danang airport, I smelt the perfume of
citronella and jasmine and immediately
recalled the memories of my last visit,
he says. His affection for Vietnam is
palpable, an echo of the long historical
ties between it and his home country
of France.
The lures of La Maison itself lie not
just in its aesthetic appeal but in its
strong story-roots, in this homage to
history. La Maison tells the story of
the country, the Chinese and French
inluences, the way the old is the now.
There is a real spirit in this house,
says Gagnaire.
To evoke that spirit, his menu at La

Maison has an elegant French

identity, with Vietnamese ideas
and produce studded like jewels
throughout. A meal here is an
elegant, intimate experience...
but still simple, unpretentious.
ginger and coriander perfume a
poached lobster, banana blossom adds
local appeal to seafood Carpaccio.
That night, gagnaire serves his
inaugural meal at La Maison. We are
here to pay homage to the relationship
between France and Vietnam. We are
at the beginning, he says, by way
of introduction.
here at the beginning, there are
prawns a la mariniere, spiked with
turmeric, and eggplant caviar with
Vietnamese black pepper and tomato
declination. A fricassee of spiny lobster
is cooked with ginger, leeks and the
ubiquitous morning glory, serve with
jasmine rice and lobster rillettes with
kair lime.
Seabass illet comes very fresh and
swimming in a clear, concentrated broth
infused with local herbs. The main is a
roasted suckling pig in a classic Bigarade
sauce the orange classically served
with canard a lorange with dots of
avocado, pomelo, lemon and chilli
sauces on the side.
and The Pierre gagnaire grand
Dessert is positively festive, an
unabashed celebration of Vietnamese
lavours: sweet dragon fruit syrup

with mangosteen, mango and vanilla;

pomelo sorbet scattered with tiny, bright
meringues; sheets of pineapple with
creamy tapioca and coconut milk;
in colada sorbet with coconut
pannacotta and candied Buddhas hand
(ingered citron); a very-rich chocolate
and coffee cake.
When the meal is done, he enters
the dining salon to loud applause but
is emphatic about introducing the team
he has worked with, sweeping the credit
onto their shoulders.
The star is not me it is the
guest, it is everybody who works here,
he shrugs.
The Father of Fusion, gagnaire is
renowned not only for his creativity,
but for the consistency displayed by
his restaurants around the world. At La
Maison, he has created a menu that the
team may produce with alacrity, even in
his absence.
Cooking is irst a craft, and the craft
industry is based on regularity, rigour
in fabrication, a reliability on a taste
that will always be the same. And then
there are chefs who live their work in an
artistic way but these two sensibilities
should not necessarily be opposing,
says Gagnaire. And once again, it is
all about my team it is only through
them that the standards worldwide may
be maintained.
To be a leader is to love and respect
people. Otherwise, you will be alone. F

Clockwise from
top left:
The outdoor Plaza
area; through the
doorway, a display
window looks into the
heart of the kitchen.
The beautiful La
Maison is set on a
hill, nestled within
the InterContinental
Danang resort itself.
a vibrant tomato soup
with eggplant caviar.

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