Can it be true? Is that really Monsieur Jean-Luc Naret, the feared and famous head of the Michelin Guide, with a burger in his hand? At a food fair? In… England?
Yes, it is. Because the burger is a miniature of the famous L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon beef and foie gras burger, cooked on the spot by the talented Frederic Simonin, and handed to Naret by none other than Joel Robuchon himself at yesterday's opening of this year's Taste of London in Regent's Park.
It was a total chef fest, as Taste of London Director Chris Hughes and Joe (50 Best) Warwick presented Robuchon with the inaugural Taste Icon award for his contribution to gastronomy (we'll forget about those burgers for a moment).
While some observers were disappointed the first Icon was not a Brit, they couldn't argue Robuchon's form. One of the major chefs of the last century, he gave it all away when he retired in 1996 at the age of 50.
A walking advertisement for the male menopause/gap year, he then came back to do things his way, changing the things he didn't like about gastronomy – the formality, the coldness, the disconnectedness between kitchen and diner, the "Frenchness".
Now, with restaurants in eight cities including Paris, London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, he holds more Michelin stars (18) than any other person in the world. And he does a mean burger, too.
Taste of London. Regent's Park, London 19-22 June. Ticket hotline: 08712307133
How about staging a taste-off with the Burger King charity burger?
Posted by: Gastroplod | Friday, 20 June 2008 at 02:49 PM
Surely a space filler of an article. Yawn
Posted by: Ray W | Saturday, 21 June 2008 at 03:10 AM
Guess you had to be there.
Posted by: Terry | Saturday, 21 June 2008 at 12:05 PM
Mmm, more Jean-Luc Naret, please. Loving the stiff shirt collar, the subtle tan, the entree to the world's best restaurants. Single by any chance?
Posted by: angelica | Saturday, 21 June 2008 at 12:05 PM
There's a Robuchon restaurant here in Macau too -- Robuchon A Galera at the Lisboa Hotel.
Posted by: Liz Thomas | Monday, 23 June 2008 at 08:51 AM
Maybe he'll get sloshed on the free champagne and proclaim London the gastronomic capital of the world as Robuchon did the other day
Posted by: adrian | Sunday, 29 June 2008 at 10:55 AM