Q: How has your approach to cooking changed?

A: I have a restaurant in Macau now and I learned a lot from the Chinese. In Western cuisine there is a lot of importance paid to flavors. To the Chinese, texture is important. They always add a little crunch. You can have taste, flavor and texture in cuisine to create excitement. A simple example is French fries. You put a little fine salt on them and then some large grained salt on top. When you eat it, you taste a little salt and then you feel the crunch of the large grains of salt. That is the best French fry.

Q: You're a very serious chef and a perfectionist. Where did you learn such discipline?

A: At 12 I entered the petite seminaire to become a priest. When I was relaxing, I helped the nuns cook, to prepare beans and vegetables. I started to do this without wanting to cook. Later I met more chefs; some of them belonged to the Compagnonnage de Tour de France [an association of skilled chefs]. This organization was dedicated to the search for perfection. They taught me the respect and satisfaction of work well done. You search for perfection knowing it does not exist. That is their motto.

Q: What is the philosophy behind L'Atelier, your less formal restaurant where diners can sit at a long bar and watch the cooks?

A: I wanted a modern concept to respond more to the clientele. That restaurant became L'Atelier in Paris and there's one in Tokyo and now Las Vegas. We are opening another in New York City at the Four Seasons and a fifth in London. I wanted a concept with conviviality. The future of food and beverage is staging. It's entertainment. Pleasure of the eyes needs to be involved.