How has coming from a family of chefs influenced you?
I am the fourth generation running the family restaurant. When I was a child, I’d often spend one or two hours in the kitchen with my grandmother and father. They taught me to cook, to love your profession, to be consistent and humble, to take suggestions and to improve in
your cooking.
How would you describe your cuisine?
Personal, Basque spirit, research based, evolving and cutting edge. We are Basque (an ethnic group from North-Eastern Spain and South-Western France). We cook with the flavour and style of where we are from, but our technique constantly evolves to keep up to date.
How does travel affect your cooking?
Travel enriches my cooking; it opens my mind to new kinds of food and other ways of cooking. I combine this with the Basque spirit and adapt my cooking style.
When you’re in a foreign country, how do you explore the food?
When I travel, I like to see the food markets with a local chef. The markets are very important because I like to see where and what the local people buy. You can’t make the best food if you do not buy the best products.
What are you most looking forward to on your Melbourne visit?
I look forward to seeing different cultures of food together. I do not know what I’m going to find but I would like to see and learn as much as possible: the types of food, the techniques and the mentality of the chefs.
Why do you think so many famous chefs are men?
My grandmother was a chef and she was a woman. In the kitchen, we have six women chefs. I know the most famous are men, but for me this is a question of time; this is going to change. Little by little, there are more women chefs. There used to be more men than women in cooking school, but today it’s equal.
What does it take to be a three-Michelin-starred chef?
We just do our job as well as possible and listen to our guests. You have to be very humble and if someone makes a suggestion, it’s important to listen. I always say, “I serve to guests what I would like to receive if I were sitting at the table.”
What would be your last meal?
Grilled hake; and grilled summer squid with poached onion and potatoes with some truffle. And I would end with chocolate, 70 percent cocoa. Why? Simply because I adore these foods.
