Chef Paul Pairet on his three-Michelin-star restaurant Ultraviolet and an appreciation of McDonald’s

Has anything changed since Ultraviolet received its third Michelin star last year? “It hasn’t changed at all – at least commercially. It’s a very small place [10 seats at one table], so it has always been full. And it’s not as if I was unknown [before Michelin] – I’m on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list [No 24, and No 8 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaur­ants].

“The only thing is personal – kids dream of having three stars. But I’ve been realising my dream with Ultraviolet. I knew when I did this that nothing would supersede it – even the third Michelin star. But I was nicely surprised that Michelin was finally able to rate us at the ultimate level – we’re a difficult case because we are a different restaurant [Ultraviolet guests meet at Mr & Mrs Bund before being bused to the restaur­ant’s undisclosed location for an immer­sive dining experience featuring multi-sensory technology].

“It would have been easy for them to say, ‘It’s very good food but because of the context, it’s difficult to put you inside the traditional rating.’ I’m happy that Michelin did that – it’s one of the most daring statements because it contradicts the opinion that Michelin is historically extremely traditional.”

Is it hard coming up with ideas for dishes? “I have a book full of things – a collection of leftover ideas that just didn’t fit into the menu. To make dishes is not compli­cated, but to make a menu is. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not just the food, it’s the whole experience. Each dish defines a main idea – it’s extremely basic. If you do a dish with truffles, of course you need to evoke the feeling of something very earthy, some wood. We try to be primi­tive, but even with that, it’s difficult to fit everything together, the right music, the right context, etc.”

How often do you change the menu? “We’ve created only three menus since 2012. But that’s about 66 dishes. You have some chefs who have gone their whole career with just 40 dishes. I can do a lot of dishes for The Chop Chop Club, but in the context of Ultraviolet, they have to be meaningful to me. Ultraviolet is an egocentric restaurant – it’s very much the commu­nication of myself.”