How do people in France approach seafood compared to Hong Kong?

In Asia in general, the biggest difference is the textures. For example, in Europe we eat the innards of the sea cucumber whereas in Asia we eat the exterior. But then I came from South America—I was born in Argentina where we have many things in common with Asia like the use of chillies, similar herbs and textures.

Hongkongers travel a lot around the world, so I’m not afraid to introduce the flavours of the ocean from France. But I also want to learn and try to incorporate more Asian flavours and textures [into my cooking]. That's what makes it interesting for me to open a restaurant in Asia.

How often are you thinking of changing the menu at Plaisance?

The menu will change a lot because I don't want to have a restaurant that only changes dishes when I can, because if so, the restaurant doesn't have the soul—a restaurant needs to have a soul.

For the past six months I have worked with Heloise [Fischbach, chef de cuisine at Plaisance]—who knows me very well—on a lot of recipes which we have tested, so she will have a few different recipes to change the menu with over the next few months. Little by little, she will be the soul of the restaurant as well.

For me, that is very important. It's not like the Robuchon style where you always have the same recipe. It's better to have a restaurant that has its own soul. I always say, I make a new baby each time; I don't make clones. So the baby will be growing little by little. It will for sure have things in common with Mirazur but it will need to have its own identity too.

It's not the first time we've opened a restaurant in this part of the world. What keeps you coming back here?

This is the first time I opened a fine dining restaurant here in China. In Macau it was a grill, in Shanghai it was a South American brasserie with parties and ambience. In Nanjing it was a brasserie as well, and in the Beijing Shangri-La it was semi-fine dining.

But Plaisance really is the first time that we are challenging ourselves to do something high-end. At the same time, we have the opportunity to be more accessible downstairs with the bar featuring live music and DJs.

We are excited and we feel the pressure, because Hong Kong is a knowledge market where people have traveled so much. When I opened my first restaurant in Shanghai in 2011, the market wasn't ready, but Hong Kong was functioning at a super-high level during this period already. Hongkongers are fluent with western cuisine and there are very good restaurants as well in Hong Kong. 

For the world of fine dining after COVID, how do you think people's demands changed?

Perhaps the difference is that the people don’t just want good food, they also want a good ambience with design as well. They are looking for a real experience, you know, and I think that was the biggest change. The people want to party and to share with friends because we were closed for too long.

Of course, sustainability is a huge part of [Plaisance] because we need to protect the oceans if we want to continue to eat seafood, we need to really take care. But the experience [of eating here] is to have different depths of the ocean in the design, as well with our menu—because it's not the same fish you catch at 800m as you catch at 50m. They have totally different textures and totally different flavours. And I think it's interesting to talk about that with the guests, to give them the knowledge to learn about how the fish was caught and what are the peculiarities of each kind of seafood.

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