Pearl Lam: Hello, everyone. Today, I would love to introduce Stephanie Le Quellec from Lausanne. I just went to her restaurant. It is a fascinating and really great experience. I love every dishes that she made. How do you feel being a Michelin star chef?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I think when I arrived at the Georges saint, because when I decided to become a chef, you know, I’m from a very, very simple family, so my culture is not a Michelin star restaurant. When I was young, of course, I don’t know, Michelin restaurant. Michelin star restaurant. And so when I decided to become a chef, my dream was to have my small restaurant making a good filet de boeuf, Rossini, etcetera. Very classical, very simple. But when I discovered the Georges Cinque, when I see, wow, the quality, the experience, I say, okay, I have a revelation, you know, I say, okay, that will be my life. I just want to be able one day to become a Michelin star chef. But maybe one Michelin star. But the problem is when you get your first Michelin star and you want to say you want a second one, and then you want the second one. Okay. So it’s a never ending story, but it challenges you every day.

Pearl Lam: When did you start knowing that you want to be a chef?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I think I was a little girl when I decided. I don’t know if I decided to become a chef, but I decided to cook because I love food. I grew up in a family where the sharing at the table, cooking together, was very important. So it gives me this feeling that food will be my life.

Pearl Lam: Wow. At what age was that?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, maybe seven or eight years old.

Pearl Lam: So seven, eight years old. You were in the kitchen cooking instead.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Of playing not with dough, but with dough, making small pieces of cakes and playing with that.

Pearl Lam: So, Dan, when did you decide that you want to really become a professional chef?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I was 14. I was 14 when I decided that.

Pearl Lam: 14 years old.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: 14 years old. When I remember, I went to see my mother and tell her, okay, I know. I’m sure, okay, I can make studies, classical studies. But, you know, my life is becoming a chef. So what do you think if I start a kitchen school and my parents together say, okay, if it is what you want to do, we will give you the. We’ll give you all we can to support you. Yeah, to support you. And we will find a school for.

Pearl Lam: You and go, amazing.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: What?

Pearl Lam: I understand.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: They trust in me at first, parents.

Pearl Lam: That you have, so, okay, industry, hospitality, industry, chef industry. Very few women leading the kitchen. Was it very tough for you to fight to the top position?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, it was not easy. And so when I was 14, it’s quite like 13 years ago, so my parents trust in me. And in a period where chefs are not rock star like today, there is less woman chef done today, much less. Yes. So it was great for them. And of course, when I started my job, young cooker, we were at the jourge saint, for example, where I start, we were two young ladies, only two.

Pearl Lam: In the whole kitchen.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Only 2480 people in the team.

Pearl Lam: What?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah.

Pearl Lam: It’s not even 10%. Wow. That is. Was it. And how was the competition? Is it very competitive?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: It was, it was a little bit hard for, for sure. But, you know, when you are sincere, when you work very hard. Yeah. Men’s can, men’s are able to see you have a potential, you have talent. So after they support you.

Pearl Lam: So now, okay, when you decide to cook, to be a chef. So you could be a pastry chef.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: No, you could be sure. Because I love salty food. I love fish, I love vegetables. I love to have a good steak. And I don’t have the feeling on the pastry part. So I was sure I want to become a kitchen chef. Yeah.

Pearl Lam: Stephanie, there are a lot of, I think looking at all the success of the chef and big stardom, there must, there must be many young people who want to become a chef. So what is your advice and how could they achieve?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: At first, you need absolutely to be passionate. You know, you have to get the fire inside of you. You also have definitely to work very hard. Okay. And never give up.

Pearl Lam: Never give up is your personality. So even if you are very talented, if you don’t have that determination, that.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Definitely, because it’s hard, but it’s, but it’s so beautiful. You know, it’s the most beautiful job. Most beautiful.

Pearl Lam: I think. I think when you say beautiful is only when you. The day you can create your own menu.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. But, but, you know, all the, all the steps are very interesting. Even when you start the connection with the chef, the transmission with the chef is very, it’s very rich of experience. So all the step in the career is important.

Pearl Lam: But I think you, you are special because you met your husband in the kitchen. Everything with you is about kitchen, definitely.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: My life is about kitchen, definitely.

Pearl Lam: And your whole life is evolving from that point. And then now is you have a whole team. You have your second family here.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. Yeah. And definitely. And the world. You are true. You’re true. Because here it’s really a second family.

Pearl Lam: Because if you don’t have this teamwork, this, I mean, they believe in you. And then it’s very hard to create.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: You are nobody. You know, you can be the best chef in the world. If you don’t have the team with you together, stronger. You cannot get too Michelin star. You cannot make people at table happy. It’s impossible alone. It’s impossible to have the.

Pearl Lam: One of the dishes the other day was langoustine. And I thought after this, I said, this is really asian, very japanese, because seared is not fully cooked. So one big question. Are you influenced by asian cooking?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Not. I love asian cooking. I love the japanese food. I love chinese food, but I don’t think I am influenced by that. But in my philosophy of cuisine, I try always to do my best to respect the product. So at first, when I create a dish, my first reflection is, okay, what I am attending of a langoustine or another product. And after that, I try to do my best to respect that and give the feeling that the product is very, very pure.

Pearl Lam: It’s amazing because I usually don’t even eat shellfish, but I decided that when I come to try it, I would try it every single. And that was. I actually dream of it. For someone who doesn’t even like shellfish, it’s pretty amazing, because you have this original taste, very natural. Because when I was having it, I was thinking, wow, this is so japanese. And, and then I feel that also, I feel that you, you really, you have a great fusion. Your caviar and that thick toast and inside with this potato souffle. I don’t know how you, how this come out with. It’s amazing. It looks great and it tastes good. Usually. When it looks great, usually it doesn’t really necessarily taste good.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. It’s one of my signature dishonest savony caviar dish.

Pearl Lam: You have to explain your caviar dish. 215.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: So, 215. I created this dish. It became my signature dish because it was a dish I prepared for my family for a Christmas, but not in this form. I just want to taste the caviar. My parents never had caviar before, so I want to cook for them a dish with caviar. So I made a very light potato puree with cream, a little bit with sorrel and with caviar. It was very simple, but it was not beautiful, you know, but it was very tasty and amazing. We have the caviar, we have the sweetness of the potato cream, etcetera. And I decide to. To think, how can I have a very catchy dish? Very beautiful, but with this taste, and it might take four, six months to create that. And since that, it’s one of my signature dishes.

Pearl Lam: I can dream again tonight. Okay, let’s go back to talk about your journey. Your journey becomes the top chef. So you were in Georgia and I was just told that you met your husband there as well.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah.

Pearl Lam: So you, how much, I mean, how long do you work in Georgesang, in.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Laser at Le Cinq? I worked during four years. I learned a lot, a lot of things, because Philippe legend was a very, very famous chef, very talented chef. Trey Michelin stars mayor Bruyet de France. And Georges was a very classic cuisine. So it’s very good to start for young cook. It’s very. It’s very good to start with because you classic. Yeah, it’s very good to start with the classic chef because you can really well learn your job. So it was a good start for me.

Pearl Lam: So after four years, you went. You went and followed other chef.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: After four years, I go to. To work in south of France. Yeah. With another great chef, Philippe Jourdan, Mayor Royale de France. With him, I become sous chef and we get together a second Michelin star. And then.

Pearl Lam: That’s very young.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, I was 26 when I was a sous chef, and we 26 years old sous chef.

Pearl Lam: Isn’t it very young. And a woman sous chef as well.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. So it was a great promotion for me. And the great also challenge, because become sous chef in a two Michelin star restaurant helped me to become a chef.

Pearl Lam: Yeah, of course, step by step by step.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: And then when Philippe leave Terre Blanche, I take his place. So I became chef.

Pearl Lam: So at what age?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: At that time, 28. And in the same time.

Pearl Lam: Wow.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. In the same time, 28, I win top chef competition.

Pearl Lam: How did you get into your top Chef? It was 2011, right?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah.

Pearl Lam: And then how did you get into Top Chef competition? So what dish did you actually make? To make a lot.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: A lot of dish during the competition. But for the final, I make a dish with morel mushroom, fresh asparagus. I have a very beautiful sea bass for the main dishes with homemade spices. And for the dessert, it was a creation, the olive oiler.

Pearl Lam: And then. Okay, so after you get your top chef, is it immediately escalate due to a big stardom and then you’re head hunted by other restaurants?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. Because it’s, you know, a tv show. It’s very. It gives you marketing. Yeah, marketing. And at the end, you win time in your career. And that’s why. That’s what Philippe Jourdan told me. Stephanie, if you do Top Chef, do it, and do it very well, because, you know, it could give you ten years on your career, you know? And that’s true, because after Top Chef, I have the proposition to become the chef at the Prince de Gal hotel, Avenue Georges Saint, so near the Georges Saint just. And I was only 13 years old, so it was amazing for me to become a chef in a palace in Paris.

Pearl Lam: Were you married?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, definitely. I get married in 21. I was 21 when I. When I get married, 21 get married, 20 to my first son, 23. 23, my second son.

Pearl Lam: How did you manage? I mean, I’m sorry you got married at such a young age and working in the kitchen, there’s no social life. And of course, how are you going to manage your family life?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I think I have a great partner because my husband is an amazing man. He always gives me the support. So in the family or in the business, he’s always with me. We are a great team. You know, we are together in the family and in the business now. So I think the issue is really to have a partner in life, understanding what you do and give you the support.

Pearl Lam: But you told me your. Your husband is also chef.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah.

Pearl Lam: So the both of you work, your children. How do you spend time with your children?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: We try, you know, we have less time, but better time.

Pearl Lam: Quality time.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, quality time, definitely. And always, since they are born, we also. We are always sorry. We always try to do our best to give them all the attention they need. Small time. The short. The time is short, definitely. But we are 100% with them when we are with them. So bravo.

Pearl Lam: Bravo. Is incredible. Such a young age and have a family and still manage to have such a successful career. So even the dishes do you create together with your. With your husband?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: For Lassen? No, for Lassen. It’s really very personal cuisine here. You know, it’s my. It’s my first baby. But for the other restaurant, because with David, I open another restaurant last year called Vive. And we have also delicatesen and pastries. So really, where is it? Yeah, in the near here. Five minutes here.

Pearl Lam: Okay. Yes. I have to go. Of course I have to go.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: And for the other restaurant. Yeah. We make the creation, the identity and all the recipes together. Yeah.

Pearl Lam: So now you have been work. You worked before you opened here. You were in princess de Gaulle for eight years.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, eight years.

Pearl Lam: And then you came here and you have this restaurant. So all the decoration, the whole experience you created. This is after being eight years. And you know what you want. And how about the menu? Is it the same as your last lesson?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: No, no. It’s a bit different, because here it’s my little home, you know, it’s a part of me here. So when you are in your own restaurants, it’s more easy to go where you want to go and give to the guest an experience more, you know, intimidate, you know, it’s very important for me to give an intimate experience here. Intimate. Sorry. An intimate experience here. So. So in my small house, because it’s very small, it’s very cozy, you know? And I want. Yeah, intimate and very warm, you know, I want something different when I create here. I don’t want another two Michelin star restaurant with no identity, with. With no human vibes, you know? So I want to create something very different, a new experience.

Pearl Lam: But why do you have the same name, Larsen?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Because the concept is the same. Because the kitchen is really. It’s open kitchen, an open kitchen, but really a big part of the experience, you know? And it’s like a theater a little bit. So we. We keep the name laser for that.

Pearl Lam: I know some chef, like Sanderson, who passed away, and he actually gave up his Michelin three star because he said that it’s too restrictive, because he doesn’t always want to make a lobster caviar and all that. He wanted that freedom. I mean, to be more creative instead of restrictive. Would you. Do you think that that would be what you would be feeling? Are you feeling restrictive?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: You do creation? No, I’m not feeling restrictive. I think the Michelin also changed. No, no. I want to keep my freedom in creation and in the experience we give to the guests. And I think today we have more chefs with individuality, with a very strong identity, and they have traditional styles. So I think you can be free, you can be creative, and also get two or three Michelin star.

Pearl Lam: So, Ami, do you take any asian influence? Do you go to Asian Asia to taste food, to be inspired?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah. Yeah. I love Asia. It’s always a great inspiration for me. I think it’s always in movement. You know, it’s very exciting to go to Hong Kong, for example, or Tokyo. And I think there is a vision of food very interesting for me. So I take sometimes ideas or technique, but I adapt with french product, and I don’t want fusion. You know, it’s not my culture. But I take some inspiration because.

Pearl Lam: And honestly, the fusion is starting, is really starting from Australia and of the fusion food. And then now it’s spreading, because even for chinese food, we talk about contemporary chinese food food. And I see your french fruit is completely contemporary style. What are you going to. I mean, how do you see about, you know, people now, the young, I mean, there’s different generation of people. Do you still think that they would love all these, really? I like these people call complicated, fussy food, but I said it’s very sophisticated. Or do they, do you think that they would just like the bistro food? How are you thinking about.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I think there is a place for all the all kind of restaurants, you know, because it’s not the same moment of consumption. You know, sometimes, and I am an example, sometimes I want to go in a bistro because I have a 45 minutes and I want an easy food. I want the beautiful beef and sometimes I want something more, experience more. And I got in a Michelin star or no Michelin star, but with a very creative chef. So I think it depends of the moment, but I think there is the place for all the kinds of restaurants. It’s important to keep our culture, but to give a modern twist in our cuisine, you know, because the world is in evolution and the cuisine need to also have an evolution.

Pearl Lam: So evolve from the contemporary culture.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely.

Pearl Lam: How do you see yourself in the next ten years? What is your, you know, what is your ambition now?

Stéphanie Le Quellec: You know, I think I am a very lucky woman. I worked very hard, but I also receive all I need and even more than I can a dream. Everything can stop here. I can be happy. But. But maybe for me and my team, we can continue to grow up the experience in at the table. And if one day one more Michelin star come, I tell you so welcome.

Pearl Lam: Your food is three Michelin star. It’s not true. I keep on telling everybody. We all sat down and said, how can this be two? It should be three.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: I don’t know. But thank you. Thank you very much.

Pearl Lam: It’s great having you and discussing about, especially the french contemporary food culture, because we are so, you know, all our imagination about French is very heavy food with a lot of sauces. And then now you give us a new tryst.

Stéphanie Le Quellec: Thank you so much. My pleasure.