Jean Imbert arrives in Dubai without the bulging bag-load of industry gongs but with a crazed social following, hogging gossip columns and fashion houses falling over themselves for his endorsement.
The winner of the French edition of Top Chef 2012, Imbert shook off the label of TV personality to beat an A-list roster of famed global chefs for perhaps the food world’s top kitchen job, replacing the legendary Alain Ducasse at Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris.
Through a canny combination of skill, ambition and image management that confounded all expectations, Imbert has become one of the most talked-about chefs in the world, with an expanding global empire that even the great pantheon of gastrogods find enviable.
However, those with knowledge of his professional journey will know that he trained at L’Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, which is itself a trial by fire. At 22 years old, he opened his first restaurant, L’Acajou, in Paris, which he eventually reinvented as the beloved kitchen Mamie, in homage to his late grandmother’s home cooking.
After his television success, he opened two ventures with musician Pharrell Williams. Restaurants with the fashion house Dior followed as the French multinational looked to capitalise on the powerful convergence between fashion and gastronomy.
He also runs the restaurant at Le Cheval Blanc Hotel in Saint Barthélemy, which, like Dior, is owned by LVMH. Then, he runs the restaurant at The Brando Resort in French Polynesia and aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train by Belmond.
And now, in Dubai, Imbert arrives as his Mediterranean-influenced restaurant Riviera at The Lana – Dorchester Collection officially opens. Inspired by the sun-spanked recipes of southern France and dishes from his childhood, the restaurant is already garnering praise from the city’s food elites, including this publication, which recently spotlighted his ratatouille tart with parmesan sablé recipe.
In an interview at Riviera, where Imbert was presiding over his kitchen in the post-lunch lull, he seemed reluctant to talk about his public persona and the fandom which follows him. Nor was he eager to talk about the ups and downs of celebrity chef culture. Mostly, he wanted to talk about his grandmother and the frangible alliance between nouvelle cuisine and classic French recipes alongside the modern.
“I think what is classic is modern”, he says, discussing his Riviera menu and the recipes within. “The more new you are, the more dated you will be. It’s not about liking or following the old styles. Take Japanese cuisine. Is sushi old or new? And if you take Italian cuisine, are pizza and pasta old or new? For me, French cuisine is like that.”
It is an interesting time to interview Imbert. The city has seen a wealth of recent restaurant openings, with the names of international celebrity chefs raining down like confetti.
The French invasion already includes Yannick Alléno at Stay by Yannick Alléno, Ann-Sophie Pic at La Dame De Pic and Argentinean-French chef Mauro Colagreco from Mirazur with his restaurant Celebrities by Mauro Colagreco. With Imbert’s arrival, the upper echelons of Dubai hospitality gaze at him with both curiosity and interest.
“Dubai is its own thing, and when I travel, the recipes and menus adapt from restaurant to restaurant, and it’s the same here,” he tells me, his voice soft and casual. “Each restaurant has a history, and the country has its products, seasons, and a certain DNA. Even though this restaurant is in a hotel, you must be open-minded. Diners aren’t just hotel guests but from all over. It has been more of a challenge here, especially because I am used to the seasons of Paris, but a menu has to feel authentic to the place.”
Endearments from his childhood and about his grandmother spilt from him like water from a tap. “The people who inspire me are creatives,” he said. “It’s not about music or art, but the people around me. These are the people who push me to be better. My grandmother was more than inspiring, and we often laughed. You know, opening a restaurant with your 90-year-old grandmother is something, I think, many people dream of.”
I ask him to expand on this special relationship, and he dives back in, without pause, “You know the restaurant [Mamie] closed, but maybe I will do it again. Maybe in the future, who knows, because I am a little bit sad that it finished, and it is a dream to re-open.”
I learned he is so much the perfectionist that Riviera underwent several interior and kitchen redesigns before it was to Imbert’s liking and standards.
“Details, details,” he emphasises, “I love working on all restaurant parts, especially table settings and menu designs. If I look now [he picks up a Riviera menu], I see recipes from my brother and mother, and there is something from my grandmother. I love having my personal story and family as part of the experience. I need these plates; I’m very nostalgic, so maybe this is why.”
Nostalgic in a romantic way, I ask. “Maybe?” he responds with a mischievous grin before it breaks into a boyish, tee-hee-hee smirk. And there he is. Jean Imbert may have the world at his feet, globetrotting from Paris and Tahiti to Saint-Tropez and Dubai and back again, but mention a boy’s grandmother and broach the subject of romance, and the famed chef’s true self is revealed.
www.dorchestercollection.com/dubai/the-lana/dining/riviera-by-jean-imbert