Re: I would like to see China follow Russia in a move away from Communism, but not I wouldn't consider Russia much of a model for China or anyone else.
For Chrissake, twfowler, Communism does have its good side!
TIME OUT: FOOD & WINE
Gambling Gourmet
What is the 'chef of the century' doing at Macau's Lisboa, a hotel more renowned for its gaming tables than its table d'hôte?
By Suh-kyung Yoon/MACAU
Issue cover-dated May 17, 2001
WHEN JOEL ROBUCHON, one of the finest French chefs in the world, decided to open a new restaurant he had a choice to make--New York City's Times Square or Macau's Hotel Lisboa. He made the most unlikely choice and the man named "chef of the century" by French food guide Gault Millau found himself cooking in a hotel better known for its dingy Casino Lisboa and "Crazy Paris Show."
Robuchon's two restaurants in Paris--Jamin and Joel Robuchon--were institutions in that epicurean city. Both received three stars from the prestigious Michelin Guide, an honour fewer than 20 restaurants in France achieve each year. In 1995 he was awarded the Legion of Honour by then-President Francois Mitterrand, who many suspected was simply making sure that he could always get a table at Joel Robuchon.
But five years ago, when he turned 51, Robuchon walked away from it all. He passed on his three-month waiting list and restaurant to Alain Ducasse, who became the first chef to run two three-star restaurants. Since then Robuchon has concentrated on his daily cooking show, Cuisiner Comme un Grand Chef (Cook Like a Great Chef) and consulting for restaurants in Paris and Tokyo, where he is such a celebrity that posters of him adorn subways. His Tokyo restaurant, Château Taillevent-Robuchon, which he visits four times a year, is considered as being among the country's finest.
Robuchon's genius comes from extreme attention to detail and uncompromising dedication to quality--Ducasse has likened Robuchon's food to "an exceptionally fine-tuned Swiss watch." In one guest appearance in a restaurant in Chicago, he sent ahead a list of demands that resulted in $250,000 worth of renovations--for just one cooking session. A picky perfectionist, Robuchon is famous for cooking with only the freshest and finest ingredients. "I used to carry ingredients to Japan when we first started the restaurant there," he says. "I just couldn't find good enough ingredients in Tokyo. So I'd always travel with huge suitcases full of caviar, artichokes and wines."
But at the Hotel Lisboa, Robuchon has met his match. Alan Ho, executive director of the Florinda Hotels and nephew of casino magnate Stanley Ho, pulled out all the stops to bring the French grand chef to his flagship hotel. He renovated the restaurant, invited one of Robuchon's long-time apprentices to be resident-chef, and contributed his own 800-bottle wine collection. At the time Robuchon had been considering an offer from supermodel Cindy Crawford to transform Maxim's on Times Square into a dinner club. "I chose Alan over Cindy Crawford," he says in a thick French accent, a twinkle in his eyes. "I just felt that he was really passionate about good cooking and would understand all my demands."
A Francophile and food connoisseur, Ho refuses to say exactly how much he has invested to lure Robuchon to the Hotel Lisboa. "Money is no barrier. We're not really trying to make money with this restaurant. It's more a way to better the image of the hotel," he says.
On the second floor of the garish white hotel, Robuchon a Galera opened its doors in April after a month-long renovation that covered every surface in swathes of royal blue and gold. The restaurant had once been the A Galera, a Continental favourite of local Portuguese government officials and businessmen. It now seats just 55 diners. The spotlight of the décor is on the wine: Ho's collection, which won a special accolade from Wine Spectator, is cradled in pure gold frames in glass and dark wood cabinets.
The surroundings may be grand but Robuchon's effort with the food is much more measured. He certainly isn't in Macau to re-enact his former glory or plunge back into the 18-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week lifestyle he had while running his Paris restaurants. He will only be in Macau for a week every other month. "Creating deluxe cuisine is like playing a sport," he has said. "Always competitive. Always challenging. And if you slow down a bit, you can no longer return to the top level."
But even then the food can be heavenly, much better than most French fare in Hong Kong. The menu features some of Robuchon's legendary dishes--jellied caviar with cream of cauliflower, black truffle tart and his signature potato purée laced with butter and passed painstakingly through a fine-mesh sieve. Dinner for two with wine came to about $250. "It's very ironic that you can now only taste my cooking in Asia," Robuchon says. "I have many customers in France who tell me that they miss my cooking. They'll just have to come to Macau."
Don't expect Macau to influence his cooking, though. Robuchon may drink Coke and use a dollop of ketchup in his potato purée but he is a French food purist. He learned to cook from the nuns of his Catholic seminary in southwestern France, which he entered at the age of 12. Forced to make a living at 15, after his parents' divorce, Robuchon found a job in the place he felt happiest--a French kitchen.
The cuisine at the Robuchon a Galera is most definitely French; the ambience not quite so. At the end of our dinner, a lounge singer in a red cheongsam walked up to the grand piano in the corner, plugged her microphone into a karaoke machine and crooned the Carpenters' On Top of the World.
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