Nur's Nurdin Topham and mentor Raymond Blanc still share same dining philosophy
It's been years since chef Nurdin Topham has worked for Raymond Blanc, but the two still share the same passion for healthy, flavourful dishes
Raymond Blanc has a very croaky voice - the revered chef contracted asthma six months ago.
"I guarantee that within six months, with the right exercise and diet, it will be gone," he wheezes, downing a glass of lemon grass and ginger tea.
The chef has been interested in the health benefits of proper nutrition for more than 30 years, and much of that interest has rubbed off on his former employee, Nurdin Topham, who worked with Blanc at his famed Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in England for 10 years.
Topham's Central restaurant Nur, recognised by Michelin after being opened for just nine months, and recently listed as one of Hong Kong's best by The New York Times, offers healthy gastronomy. Judging by the menu, that means the taste of fine dining without much of the usual butter, cream, sugar and other belt-loosening ingredients usually implied.
Blanc is in Hong Kong on what he defines as a holiday. His trips abroad might include visiting some top restaurants - when Blanc visited the Mandarin Grill he didn't just eat there, but spent seven hours in the kitchen learning how to make Peking duck - but he's also happy to spend part of his trip talking, or at least rasping, to the press about the values he shares with Topham, which revolve around contemporary-sounding ideas about seasonal, local and organic food.
Blanc says many trendy ideas about food are far older than they seem - he started looking into molecular gastronomy in the early 1980s, when it was called "food science" or "the science of nutrition".