10-Michelin-star French chef Anne-Sophie Pic on Cristal Room, her new restaurant in Hong Kong that feels like a penthouse apartment
- Anne-Sophie Pic, whose restaurants have 10 Michelin stars, more than any others led by a female chef, talks about the meticulous preparations for Cristal Room
- She shows her expertise and attention to detail in a preview meal at the restaurant, a collaboration with Baccarat whose decor is surprisingly understated
Anyone who has watched one of the countless reality-TV cooking shows aired in the past decade would attest that, in popular culture, kitchens are portrayed as testosterone-filled, ego-driven environments.
Restaurant kitchens are depicted as high-pressure and aggressive places to work, driven by alpha male chefs – an image made popular by memes from one such show, Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen.
The reality is often somewhat different; take French culinary star Anne-Sophie Pic, a quiet, calm and meticulously neat woman who runs several restaurants that between them have 10 Michelin stars, more than any others in the world under a female chef.
Admittedly, cooking is in her blood – Pic’s grandfather Andre achieved three Michelin stars for the family restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, southern France, back in 1934, a status retained under her father, Jacques, until his death in 1992.
When you walk into the dining room, you will find it very different
The restaurant lost its third star in 1995. Pic took the reins two years later, albeit reluctantly at first, and regained the third star for the restaurant in 2007.
Before becoming a chef, Pic spent some time in Asia in 1992 as part of her studies for a business degree, and the energy of Hong Kong stuck with her. More than 30 years later, the city is where she has opened her fifth overseas restaurant.
