TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Olivier Oddos: French food with a twist

Michelin star chef Olivier Oddos brings French cuisine around the globe by adding his signature touch in the process.

Allison Hore (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, February 20, 2018

Share This Article

Change Size

Olivier Oddos: French food with a twist Michelin star chef Olivier Oddos brings French cuisine around the globe by adding his signature touch in the process. (AMUZ Gourmet/File)

F

rench chef Olivier Oddos has been in the world of gastronomy his entire adult life, working at several Michelin-star restaurants since starting his career at the age of 16.

He has worked as a second chef at the iconic Parisian restaurant, the Michelin-starred La Tour d’Argent, before moving to Tokyo to work as an instructor at cooking school Le CordonBleu in 2000.

Chez Olivier, his restaurant in Tokyo, opened its doors in 2009, with a menu he describes as “French cuisine with a Japanese touch.” These touches involve the use of signature Japanese ingredients, such as ginger and yuzu in traditional French dishes.

Oddos also tries to use Japanese methods in his cooking, saying the food that impresses him the most in Japan is tempura, which for him is deceptive in its apparent simplicity, since good tempura takes a lot of talent to make.

“It’s easy to prepare tempura, but very nice and very excellent tempura is very difficult,” he says.

When making tempura, he says a chef must choose good quality produce and oil, and really pay attention to the temperature that it is cooked at.

“In Japan it’s an art to make good tempura,” adds friend and fellow chef Gilles Marx, founder of AMUZ Gourmet in Jakarta.

Scallop sushi
Scallop sushi (AMUZ Gourmet/File)

Working in the restaurant industry in Japan comes with its challenges and the level of competition is fierce. In Tokyo, there are over 200 Michelin-star restaurants, with more than 50 of them specializing in French cuisine.

The competition forces restaurateurs to regularly update their menus as well as be active on social media to maintain the buzz around their restaurants and bring in customers.

“We need to change the recipes very often and work with TV shows and magazines all the time,” says Oddos.

“There are so many good restaurants out there,” says Marx, “if you’re not active in the media and social media people forget about you. So that’s one of the challenges he has in Tokyo.”

Oddos also noted how Japanese diners really paid attention to the aesthetics of food.

“For the Japanese, the plating and the color are very important,” he says.

“For me it was always more interesting and challenging to create something from scratch and to put your print right from the beginning on something new. It all worked out quite well for me.”

Fine dining: A barramundi fillet with an asparagus and smoked salmon is served for the main-course during a six-course Champagne dinner prepared by chef Olivier Oddos in Jakarta.
Fine dining: A barramundi fillet with an asparagus and smoked salmon is served for the main-course during a six-course Champagne dinner prepared by chef Olivier Oddos in Jakarta. (JP/Allison Hore)

Oddos was in Indonesia for a week as part of a special collaboration with Marx.

Marx, who first came to Indonesia in 1998 upon learning of an opportunity to start a restaurant following a new hotel opening in Jakarta, says the idea for a collaboration with chef Oddos came from a mutual friend.

“We started talking and the idea came up, ‘why don’t you stop over?’ so we did a little bit of cooking together, had some fun and here he is,” explains Marx.

“We’re very pleased that Olivier could make it and we’ve had a good response from our customers.”

This is Oddos’ first time cooking in Indonesia. The week of events included a champagne dinner, a set menu of Oddos’ creation, a wine pairing dinner, and a cooking class, as well as a series of ladies’ lunches throughout the week. All events were fully booked.

Marx told The Jakarta Post, which was invited to the event, he chose Oddos for the collaboration because of the differences in methods and ingredients.

“He has a different way of doing things than I have and that keeps it interesting for our clientele. Since everybody knows my cuisine, since our guests have been here many times, the interesting thing for us was to introduce a chef who will do things differently.”

The collaboration also involved Oddos working with ingredients he had not previously used or tasted before, including local herbs, barramundi and pomelo. It gave both chefs a chance to learn from each other.

“Every time we travel we discover new produce and new ingredients,” says Oddos.

Starter: A slow poached egg comes with herb foam and mushrooms.
Starter: A slow poached egg comes with herb foam and mushrooms. (AMUZ Gourmet/File)

The six-course menu for the champagne dinner that launched the event included a series of dishes created by chef Oddos, including a starter featuring a slow poached egg with herb foam and mushrooms, a barramundi fillet with an asparagus and smoked salmon sauce for the main course and a dessert with lime sorbet, passionfruit cremeaux and slices of fresh grapefruit.

All dishes were paired with world renowned Jacquesson champagne and were prepared by Marx’s team, who were given the opportunity to learn new techniques from chef Oddos.

“Our goal is that people talk about what they eat, and that’s what brings people back,” explains Marx. “A good chef, wherever he works, he always brings the best to his table.”

***

The writer is an intern with the ACICIS program.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.