How did your relationship with Jorge Vallejo come about?
JR: I have followed his work for a long time and we have always had a good connection. We met at a gala for the 50 Best awards and Odette also visited in 2018, I seem to remember, where we had a great exchange of opinions. So when she invited me to the 10th anniversary of Quintonil, I immediately accepted. Mexico is a country that I did not know and Jorge is, above all, a wonderful person. In my work, sensations and feelings have always been important.
How do two kitchens fit together a priori as different as yours?
JR: Quintonil cuisine is not only delicious, but also interesting. Those two characteristics, in my opinion, always have to coexist. When you enjoy Jorge Vallejo’s cuisine, you immediately realize that you are in Mexico. It’s like breathing the country. At Odette in Singapore, for example, we cook a distinctly French cuisine with Asian accents. We both have the feeling of the place where we are as the core of our works.
What expectations did you have of the Mexican culinary scene when you arrived in the country?
JR: Mexico, as a country, has cuisine very marked in its DNA and in its culture, which is enormous and you can feel it in every corner. And that richness, that intensity and that strength carry over to the food, which sends you a very interesting message when you enjoy it. Perhaps it is necessary for one to have a slightly more educated palate, more traveled, to fully understand it, but today there are many people who enjoy flavors and who are interested in ingredients and cooking techniques, which makes anyone can understand it.
To be honest, I didn’t have too much knowledge about Mexican food and cooking. As a European living in Asia, we sometimes limit it to tacos, but it’s obviously so much more than that. Mexico is huge, with different regional cuisines, as is the case in Spain or France, and that gives it great richness. In October I will return to visit Yucatan with Jorge and continue discovering.
As a French chef, what was the main challenge of settling in Singapore?
JR: Singapore imports 85 percent of all its resources, so that was a challenge. Especially for me, who comes from a family from a village in Auvergne, in the center of France. But it is also true that it is one of the best organized countries in the world and that allows you to have access to anything, from anywhere and at any time.
Once you assume that situation you can offer the best ingredients, which is our goal at Odette. Singapore is a melting pot and what at first was a challenge, we turned it into an opportunity.