Stéphanie Le Quellec
At 37, the Top Chef France winner, who ran the two-Michelin-starred La Scène restaurant in Paris, is ready for a new challenge.
“I grew up in a small town called EnghienlesBains, 20 minutes from Paris. When I was five, I didn’t play with toys, I would go into my grandmother’s kitchen and make small cakes – sables Bretons. It was like a game for me. My mother and grandmother were good cooks. For Christmas and birthdays, we would have 20 to 25 people, and my mum would cook for four to five hours.”
WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE? WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A CHEF?
“When I was 14, I told my mum I didn’t want to study academics, I wanted to go to culinary school. She let me do it. Today I want to thank my parents, because 23 years ago chefs were not rock stars like they are now. Cooking was what you did when you couldn’t do anything else, and there were hardly any women doing this.”
WHAT WAS CULINARY SCHOOL LIKE?
“I was the youngest student at 14, everybody else was around 17. I grew up quickly. I had to take the train to culinary school in Paris every day. Every weekend I cooked for my parents as a kind of homework. I did my baccalaureate and master’s in five years.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN YOUR FIRST JOB?
“In 2000, I started working at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, in Paris. I worked there for four years. I come from a modest family and we had never eaten at a Michelinstarred restaurant. When I chose to become a chef, it was to have my own restaurant and cook simple dishes. But the George V was a revelation because I discovered luxury hotels and Michelin stars. I decided this was what I wanted to do. [This kind of cooking] is very hard, very technical.”
HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR HUSBAND, DAVID? “I met him at the George V – I was a commis chef and he was a sous chef. We got married a year later and had our first baby a year after that, and since then my life has gone by quickly. We worked together for four years at the George V and four at the Four Seasons Terre Blanche [in Provence]. After that we both became executive sous chefs. I said if we want to stay married we should have separate kitchens. He got another job and I stayed at the hotel. We haven’t worked together since. He is an incredible husband. He does the same job so he understands my job more than anybody. He is proud of my career, so he pushes me, and he’s an amazing father.”
WHY DID YOU COMPETE IN TOP CHEF IN 2011? “My fatherinlaw learned they were casting for the second season of Top Chef and said if I did it, I would win. I didn’t want to be on TV, but he said, ‘I’ll give you a bottle of champagne if you enter.’ He filled out the application for me and I didn’t hear back so I thought that was that. After 15 days I got called for casting and 10 days before filming they told me I was selected. I said I would think about it. I called my mentor chef Philippe Jourdin [from Four Seasons Terre Blanche] and told him I’m not comfortable being on TV. He said, ‘Stéphanie, you are 28 years old, you have time, but TV is a strong media. You will save 10 years on your career. Do it and win.’
I did it and won.”
HOW DID THE SHOW CHANGE YOU? “Before, I was very shy, but Top Chef gave me confidence. Before nobody knows you, and then five million French people watch the first episode and recognise you on the street. Top Chef was different from the other competitions I had done. One time we cooked in an old castle with no gas and we had to make a fire and roast a duck like they did 300 years ago. Every day was a new challenge. Before I did Top Chef, in my kitchen there was always a problem I was stressed about. After the show, there were only solutions. I learned a lot about myself and my capacity to always do better.”
DID IT CHANGE YOUR COOKING STYLE?
“When I started Top Chef, I was a sous chef cooking Philippe Jourdin’s cuisine. One of the show’s judges was the famous chef JeanFrançois Piège. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Who are you on the plate? Your cuisine is technically perfect, but where is the emotion? Where are you?’ I had to give myself more and more. I changed because of that.”
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR MICHELIN STARS? “After the show, the Prince de Galles hotel [in Paris] contacted me about reopening with finedining restaurant La Scène. I helped design the concept and show kitchen, and we opened in May 2013. Nine months later, we got the first Michelin star. In its 90year history, Prince de Galles had never had a Michelin star. It was a great honour for me to get the first star, and six years later, in January, we got the second one.
“At the end of February, I decided to close the restaurant because I have spent 15 years in luxury hotels and I needed another challenge: to have my own restaurant. I will open another La Scène this October, near the ChampsÉlysées.”
DO YOUR SONS COOK? “My boys are 15, 13 and three years old. The middle son could be a pastry chef. We teach our team every day, but when I share moments with my son, he makes me very proud and happy. He has made ParisBrest, flan Parisien, galette des rois. He started to cook savoury dishes like filet de boeuf with pepper sauce. Cooking is a question of feeling – you have it or you don’t. You can learn the technique, but you have to have the taste, the flavour, the feeling, and I think he has it. If he works hard, he can be
a chef.” ■
Stéphanie Le Quellec was recently a guest chef at Petrus, Island Shangri-La, Central.