I’ve been executive chef at The PuLi for three years now. Before then I was at Melbourne’s Cutler & Co., and at Australian celebrity Chef Guy Grossi’s restaurant, Grossi Florentino.
I never went to culinary school. I learned on the job and by travelling. Seeing and doing what people around the world cook teaches you a tremendous amount. In Italy, the things I learned from older women, nonas, were incredibly valuable – their techniques are time-tested and haven’t changed for hundreds of years.
At a vineyard in Bologna they taught me to make tortellini in brodo [stuffed pasta parcels in broth, traditionally eaten during Christmas holidays in Northern Italy], the vintner’s wife would make the pasta and get us to roll it, while her husband – and only he – would be allowed to make the filling.
My own cooking style is fresh and light; not too much butter, heavy sauces or cheese. I’d say it’s relatively healthy, at least until you get to dessert!
Our new concept for Jing’An Restaurant [The PuLi’s Western restaurant] is casual French, with a few Mediterranean touches, and international dishes too.
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Corned Beef Sandwich with pickles and french fries
But it’s not about making the food itself casual. The food can be as casual or as complicated as it needs to be. The important thing is it should be in sync with the environment. If you want a giant plate with a tiny piece of foie gras on it, you’re going to need a white tablecloth and a waiter that looks like a penguin. We wanted something that was affordable, accessible and with value.
We still value innovation, though. The last thing we want to do is serve a dish that somebody else is doing. We want to be different, but remain within the boundaries of what is considered to be ‘French’ cuisine.
Experience is ultimate. When people come in here, we want them to forget that they’re in Shanghai. For that those ninety minutes, they could be anywhere in France.
I have as much creativity as I allow myself to have. The focus of going to a good restaurant is to eat something that you can’t get someplace else. If it’s not totally unique, it should at least be done in way that is thoughtful and innovative. And certainly something you can’t cook at home.
From our new lunch menu, the most creative is definitely the quince, oat biscuit, licorice and fermented milk sorbet dessert (above). Lots of people don’t like licorice, but quite unexpectedly, it works well with combined with quince. These flavors are sharp, so we balance it with an alkaline fermented milk sorbet, which has a buttermilk-like taste to it. Each mouthful is sweet, sour and earthy.
If I was eating here I’d start with the carottes râpées, which are served raw & cooked with a fromage blanc. Then the red snapper (below), with mussel escabache and potato aioli, and finally the quince and licorice dessert!
Something is only orthodox because it’s been accepted; before anything was a ‘classic,’ it was ‘unorthodox.’ So to me there’s no such thing, only good and bad. What is unorthodox food now could be a classic in 50 years, as long as it’s good.
Starting out, some of the things I did were too challenging. If people are uncomfortable they won’t feel good about the experience. A good friend of mine who’s been here a long time said something I’ve never forgotten: “You need to invite people, not make them feel stupid.”
As I mature, I’ve adopted a ‘less is more’ attitude. I aspire to get particular elements to a higher and higher quality, even if it means doing fewer things with them.
White chocolate and honey ice cream dessert
On our dinner menu, for example, there’s a particular garnish on our ‘sunflower soup.’ It’s a sunflower root that’s oven-roasted until completely soft, then the inside is removed, the exterior skin dehydrated and deep-fried. The result looks uncannily like the bark of a tree, with a crunchy texture and the taste of an artichoke.
Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli chef, cookery writer and restaurant owner is my biggest culinary influence. His style is simple, healthy and effective.
Cooking for someone you love can influence you more than seeing Thomas Keller on TV, because it’s driven by emotion. Influence can come from cooking for someone, as opposed to learning from somebody.
Pecorino and truffle endive tart
The people I know are those whose opinions I care most about. But with each person who comes into this restaurant, I ask “is this the last time they’re going to come here?” There are 24 million people and many thousands of restaurants; you need to make sure diners come back again or you’re out of a job…
Jing'An Restaurant's contemporary French set lunch available Mon-Sat, 12-2.30pm from RMB188*. Daily set dinner 6-10pm from RMB518* (RMB888* incl. wine pairing). Starting March 11, 50% off over 200 selected wines during dinner service (6-10pm) every Weds.
*Prices quoted per person, subject to 15 percent service charge.
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