The legendary Joel Robuchon, the world’s most-starred Michelin chef who tore down kitchen walls to give diners new insights into the art of cooking, died yesterday at 73.
Robuchon, who was hailed as one of four “chefs of the century” by the Gault & Millau industry bible in 1990, founded a string of restaurants that revolutionised fine dining across three continents, at one point ratcheting up a record 32 Michelin stars.
He still had 24 stars at the time of his death, with foodies lining up from Tokyo to Paris and Macau for seats in his L’Atelier restaurants, where they can watch chefs in action, perched on high stools at a U-shaped bar.
“His name and his style embodied French cuisine around the world, symbolising an art of living and the insistence on work well done, and expressing the richness of our traditions,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement.
Robuchon died of pancreatic cancer in Geneva, where he was planning to open a restaurant, his friend, food critic Gilles Pudlowski confirmed to AFP.
His death was also confirmed by a French government spokesman.
Macron lauded his role in the emergence of nouvelle cuisine, which did away with heavy sauces in favour of fresh vegetables and intricately crafted dishes.
Tributes poured in from other top chefs, already mourning the death earlier this year of French culinary “pope” Paul Bocuse, and more recently globetrotting American celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain.
British chef Gordon Ramsay, who trained under Robuchon, tweeted that he “kept all of us on our toes! Even when we were sleeping!”
“Merci Chef, God bless, you’ll be missed,” he wrote.
Gault & Millau’s director Come de Cherisey eulogised Robuchon, whose food empire employed 1,200 people, as “a great business leader”.
Born in 1945 in the city of Poitiers to a bricklayer father and stay-at-home mother, Robuchon’s first vocation was the priesthood.
However, while cooking alongside nuns for other seminarians, he discovered a passion for food and at 15 entered the restaurant trade.
A perfectionist from the start, he earned a name for himself and by the age of 30 was running a 90-strong kitchen at the Concorde Lafayette hotel in Paris.
His signature creations included truffle tart, cauliflower cream with caviar and langoustine ravioli – but he also elevated the humble potato, with his smooth, buttery mash earning rave reviews.
But by the age of 51 he had worked himself to the bone.
Declaring that he did not want to die of the stress of turning out flawless fare day after day, the father of two announced his retirement in 1996.
He soon became a fixture on French television, hosting a series of popular cooking shows that aimed to demystify haute cuisine for the masses.
The most popular was Bon Appetit Bien Sur, a daily 20-minute programme which ran from 2000 to 2009 and often included appearances by other top chefs.
His campaign to encourage better everyday eating also included writing nearly 20 books, including Cooking Through the Seasons and one dedicated to potatoes.
By 2003 he was back in the kitchen with the Atelier concept, which he debuted in Paris and Tokyo and later took to London, Las Vegas and New York, among other cities.
Joel Robuchon
