Owner of Singapore’s two-Michelin-star Odette restaurant on why his grandmother would be proud of him

How often do you do these guest-chef promotions? “Not that often because I try to stay in my restaurant as much as I can. But we planned this one a long time ago, and I knew it was going to be fun. Ricardo [Chaneton, of Restaurant Petrus at the Island Shangri-La] and I know each other from a four-hands dinner that we did about four years ago, when I was chef of Jaan [in Singapore] – he came to do a collaboration as part of a gourmet festival. After that we cooked together in Shanghai, at Unico.”

Tell us about your restaurant, Odette. “It’s named after my maternal grandmother. I’m from Auvergne, in the centre of France. It’s quiet – very quiet; there are not many people but it’s rich in agricul­ture. They say Auvergne is the cheese board of France; it’s the only region in France with five AOPs [appellation d’origine protégée], the official appellation of cheeses. My grand­father had a small farm and my sister, our parents [and I] lived there. My grandmother cooked every day.

Tell us about your childhood. “My memories of when I was a kid are of helping in the kitchen and seeing the amount of emotion and pleasure you can give to peo­ple through food made from honest, humble ingredients. We didn’t have much money but we always ate well. We used our own prod­ucts, from poultry to milk, vege­tables from the garden and mushrooms because we were surrounded by forests. I learned to cook from my grandmother. She was my first teacher. That’s important, because that’s where you shape your story and where you learn taste education – as a kid or teenager – and [from that] you learn how to eat.”

What do you remember your grandmother making? “I remember the long, slow simmering of the red currant jam she would make, adding vanilla and juniper berries – this perfumed the entire house. I’ve kept this memory in my heart for many years, and so it’s a small gift we give to diners when they come to Odette – a jar of red currant jam, to show them where I’m coming from.”

Why did you become a chef? “Because I wanted to give people pleasure. This is what I’m trying to do every day, from a very involved perspective – to make people happy through good food and good company. Chefs are lucky because we have one of the few jobs where we can do this every day.”

Has your family eaten at your restaurants? “Not my grandmother, because she was too old to travel, but she knew what I was doing. She’s passed away now, but she’s watching over me from up there. My parents came to Odette and they were so proud. It’s a long journey, and for them it was such a discovery. It’s nice to cook for people you love.”