How perfume-making inspired one of the world’s best female chefs
Why eight-Michelin-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s philosophy of ‘suffusion’ is inspired by perfume-making, and she believes fine dining is ‘culturally important for your soul’
Anne-Sophie Pic’s affair with Hong Kong is anything but a passing fancy. Sure, she has her Baccarat-adorned jewel box of a restaurant, Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic, which rises high above the Central cityscape and was awarded one Michelin star a mere four months after opening in 2023. But she was already smitten on her first encounter with Hong Kong more than three decades ago, during a university programme at the ISG School in Paris that also took her to South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, at a time when she was seeking to distinguish herself from her family’s gilded, three-Michelin-star legacy in Valence, France.
Anne-Sophie Pic with pastry team members Eric Verbauwhede and Léo Faler. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
“It was 15 days, but enough to discover the city and understand it more,” Pic recalls of her stint spent traversing Kowloon, eating her fill of seafood and street food. “Hong Kong was different from other [places] around it. Full of energy. It was remarkable.”
Suffice to say, the Hong Kong of today is vastly different from the halcyon days of the late 1980s, but the Asian bug never left Pic. As one of the world’s most lauded female chefs, she is a giant in the pantheon of haute French cuisine, overseeing five restaurants across four countries with a tally of eight Michelin stars, including the three-Michelin-star Maison Pic, and La Dame de Pic restaurants in Paris and Dubai, with a star each. In Asia, Cristal Room is her only outpost following the closure of La Dame de Pic in Singapore last May, and it’s where she expresses her affinity for Asian ingredients most fully.
The interior of Cristal Room, overlooking Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
At a recent lunch, rarefied ingredients from across the continent were seamlessly woven into ethereal, architecturally constructed dishes that emerged from an open, multimillion-dollar kitchen: Hokkaido uni and kuromame (black soybeans) were shrouded under gossamer-thin milk crisps in a starter dish; Pic’s famed Berlingots pasta parcels rested in a thick pool of madras curry tinged with camomile; while an entrée of glazed red mullet was complemented by a ponzu sauce and a beurre rouge flavoured with assam and Buddha amacha, an uncommon Japanese tisane, which lent it a delicate depth. Each course is a journey through Asia, evoking the spice-rich markets of Jodhpur in one bite, and the crisp mountain air of Wakayama in another.
Anne Sophie-Pic’s famous pasta parcels. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
To indulge in Pic’s cooking is to be offered a peek into her culinary philosophy of “suffusion” – a term that denotes the slow spread of a feeling, colour or scent through a medium. It also happens to be the title of her latest cookbook; it’s the framework by which Pic creates her dishes, inspired by her lifelong love for the art of perfume-making.
Nishimera trout marinated with licorice and yuzu lactic vinaigrette with kombucha and smoked pine oil. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
“I was very eager to discover the world of perfume, because I had the intuition that the olfactory part was the first entrance to the taste,” says Pic. “It’s very important for me to imagine dishes like perfume, to pair some aromas together to give emotions. And if you are sensitive to art, you are more able, perhaps, to give emotion to other people.”
Suffusion, a new book by Anne-Sophie Pic, who currently holds 10 Michelin stars. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
Many of her dishes can be described as perfumed, inspired by musks and flowers. This approach also carries over to the non-alcoholic pairings, where Asian teas play an outsize role. There is a milk-clarified aperitif of apple and Japanese buckwheat tea, of which I shamelessly ask for a refill; a Da Hong Pao from Wuyishan, in Fujian province, prepared tableside using a traditional gaiwan tea bowl that exhibits the “rock charm” characteristic of this varietal; and a genmaicha Collins mocktail to go with dessert – a personal favourite of Pic’s.
Anne-Sophie (left) in Cristal Room’s kitchen. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
Despite holding court at the leading edge of fine dining throughout her 30-year career, Pic has not been immune to the vicissitudes of post-pandemic consumption. After a six-year run at Raffles Singapore, her one-Michelin-star La Dame de Pic shuttered against the backdrop of a record number of restaurant closures in the city state: more than 3,000 in 2024 alone. A representative for the hotel simply addressed the decision to close as reflecting “an evolution of the city’s social trends and business dynamics, as well as both parties’ alternative business strategies”.
For her part, Pic remains steadfast in the belief that fine dining is akin to going to the theatre or to the museum. “You need it,” she says. “It’s culturally very important for your soul, for your spirit, for your knowledge.”
Camus artichoke roasted and glaze with saké Figs leaves and LongJing beurre blanc. Photo: Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic
Still, Group Pic is making changes. First, a return to à la carte, to allow diners to choose how much time they want to devote to a meal. Second, a doubling down on tableside, or guéridon, service to create a connection with guests and elicit a sense of discovery, both of ingredients and technique.
Expansion is also on the books, through a culinary partnership with Dior, for which Pic has been translating her vision of feminine gastronomy to the world of high fashion using the maison’s house codes. Adding to an existing location in Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, the Café Dior by Anne-Sophie Pic opened in Chengdu, Sichuan province, and Tokyo’s ritzy Ginza district, last December, while a Monsieur Dior restaurant is slated for Beijing this year.
