ProfileMandarin Oriental pastry chef on catering for a Thai princess, his training under Michelin-star chefs Michel Troisgros and Régis Marcon, and Christmas feasts in France
- A conversation with Régis Marcon of the three-Michelin-star Restaurant Régis et Jacques Marcon set a 14-year-old Christophe Sapy on a career in the kitchen
- The French executive pastry chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong tells Bernice Chan about making dessert for royalty and why tradition at Christmas matters
“When I was young, I liked to eat and was always around the kitchen, so I started to cook. One time, my father took me to Lyons [in southeast France], where the Bocuse d’Or – the world culinary championship and food show – is held every four years. He took me there because he knew I liked being in the kitchen, but I didn’t know much about it.
“He opened my mind and guided me on how to start my career. He told me about a hotel school called Le Renouveau [in Saint-Genest-Lerpt], and at 14 years old I started studying there, where the teachers were Michelin-star chefs.”
What was culinary school like?
“The first two years you don’t really cook, but learn about cuisine, food and history, and I did some serving. At 16, I started apprenticing. It was really hands-on in that I learned how to make beds, clean rooms, serve and cook. While I was at the school I got to see Marcon two or three times a year for six years. He had close ties to the school because he is a passionate chef, trying to develop younger ones in the kitchen or hospitality. He was not a teacher at the school, but he came to do some demonstrations.
“When I graduated in both kitchen and service after six years, I was attracted to pastry. It’s like science; very precise. I spoke to Marcon again and he suggested I study for a year at a pastry school near Lyons and then intern with him for a year. I worked for him as an employee for another year.”