JULIEN ROYER
Recipe for Success
From farm to city, and from boyish talent to confident, fully fledged businessman and restaurateur, Julien Royer had to sacrifice a lot to get to where he is today. The Frenchman always wanted Michelin star. Now, Odette, his four-year-old restaurant at the National Gallery Singapore, has two of them. If someone had told him 10 years ago that his restaurant was going to be number one in Asia, he wouldn’t have believed it. “We’re happy, but it’s the beginning of our journey,” he says. “We still have a long way to go. It won’t last forever. I’m very realistic when it comes to my profession. “This job is demanding. It’s crazy,” he adds. “The days are very long. You sacrifice your sleep, your personal life, your social life. You see your friends go out every night, but you can’t. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re good enough. You always try to think of what you can do better every day. If you don’t have this passion, it’s pointless. If you don’t love this job, you won’t succeed.”
Royer notes that things are getting better, though, now that he has a well-trained team and solid support system. “But I’m never satisfied with what I do. I’m always thinking that there’s something to improve. Not necessarily just the cuisine, but the atmosphere, the lighting, the music, the tableware. Every little detail counts.”
Odette was named for the 36-year-old chef’s maternal grandmother, from whom he learned to cook as a child in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France. Louise, which has taken over the site of the now-shuttered Aberdeen Street Social at PMQ , on the border of Central and Sheung Wan, is named for his paternal grandmother (it’s her middle name). Royer’s first Hong Kong outing has a “bistronomy” concept – gastronomy in a bistro setting.
“It’s a traditional French restaurant, reimagined,” he says. “The menu focuses on good sourcing and techniques, and straightforward plating. Plus, there’s a large selection of wines by the glass.” One of the rustic dishes that diners can experience is truffade – sautéed potatoes with garlic and melted tomme fraîche cheese from Royer’s hometown of Cantal. He says this a good exercise for him to explore casual, affordable cuisine and hopes to replicate the concept elsewhere if it takes off.
Royer didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived in Asia with his wife Marie Agnes Fontana, also 36, whom he met in hospitality school (she’d just arrived from Paris to study hotel management, and he fell in love with the fashionable girl from the big city). The couple did a stint in French Polynesia before moving to Singapore in 2008.
“We’ve been together for 18 years. She’s someone who’s really supportive, understanding and loving,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “I like that she’s like a chameleon – she adapts very well anywhere, with any kind of people, and in any circumstance and environment. So she adapted to my life very well. I come from the countryside, but when she came to my hometown she loved it.”
Royer grew up on a farm in central France. His calm and friendly demeanour undoubtedly stems from his upbringing and values.
“Growing up, we didn’t have much money, but we always ate very well. My parents taught me that throwing things away is bad. It’s a value that I strongly believe in, and one I try to apply in the kitchen. I hate waste. I hate buffets as a consumer and as a chef. I’m still a bit frustrated because we throw away too many things. But our leftover breads are given to a charity – they’re collected every day.”
“We’re like a football team. During service, you have to be on top of your game”
Of his “very humble background”, he says: “My dad is very quiet. He’s a consultant who advises other farms how to run their businesses better. My mum is a farmer, very warm and friendly – she can talk to anyone. They’re very simple people. They grow their own vegetables and eat healthily. They know all about agriculture, ecology and soil.
“The other day, my mum called to tell me that it’s been raining a lot in Cantal, so the vegetables will not be as sweet this time. That’s just how they live!”
The familial spirit is strong at Odette. Instead of hot-headed swagger, Royer believes in a collaborative kitchen culture, and counts renowned French chefs Michel Bras and Bernard Andrieux as his mentors. As a teenager, he worked at Bras’s restaurant in Laguiole, France, where one of the many important lessons he learned was that someone can be the best chef in the world, but he or she will achieve nothing alone.
So, unlike many other top chefs, Royer neither shouts nor loses his cool in the kitchen. While acknowledging that many chefs have thrown plates at walls in rage, he “very rarely” swears at people. “I try to respect people and be fair to them. At Odette, to my memory, I’ve never thrown anything. Maybe a spoon when I was pissed off.”
While he’s generous in imparting knowledge and skills, he also gives his staff room to innovate, experiment and challenge themselves. Thanks to his hands-on style, the team feels that he’s a mentor who works alongside them. His advice to them is that they need to be patient and persistent to become a good chef.
“I always bring a positive energy and attitude to the kitchen, because they can get very tired,” he explains. “So I try to make them smile. I have to push them in a good way.”
The camaraderie is obvious, with the chef and his team bantering from the moment they step into the restaurant in the morning until after the last petit four is served late at night. If music is playing, there may even be singalongs. But things change once the first lunchtime guest steps in.
“We’re like a football team. During service, you have to be on top of your game. Concentration has to be very high. We need to be strict, disciplined and organised to deliver quality and consistency.”
To unwind after work, the team goes for late suppers together. If Royer and one of his sous chefs are travelling for work, they make it a point to check out the best restaurants or new places together.
With a solid team behind him, Royer is now able to travel a lot more for “four hands” collaborations with other world-renowned chefs. Recently, he flew to the south of France to cook alongside Mauro Colagreco of the three-Michelin-star Mirazur, which is ranked third on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. In return, he’s invited many respected chefs to Odette to collaborate, including Dominique Crenn of the three-star Atelier Crenn. He was also a guest chef at last year’s Margaret River Gourmet Escape, a popular gastronomic event in Western Australia that has brought in celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and Nigella Lawson.
Royer says his latest appointment – by Air France to design a menu for first- and business-class passengers travelling between Singapore and Paris – is quite an honour for him, as he’s the first Singapore-based chef to work with the airline. This latest feather in his cap is yet another sign that Royer’s career has taken off to new heights. See prestigeonline.com for more from Royer on his Hong Kong venture, Louise (35 Aberdeen Street, Central, louise.hk)