Yannick Alléno: “Unless I'm on the plane or on the train I am in the kitchen with my team.”

With just over a month to go until this year’s Ascot, we sat down with one of the most recognisable names in the culinary world, French chef Yannick Alléno, to preview his culinary vision for this year’s Royal Ascot. The most decorated Michelin-starred chef in the world, Alléno is quick to confess his genuine excitement about cooking at such an iconic British occasion for the second year in a row, praising his colleagues from this side of the Channel in the same breath. When asked how many people he might have served last year, he can only tell us “As many as you like. I don't know how many exactly, but it was a lot”. From the high-stakes atmosphere of the day, to the more personable approach service can take in comparison to his usual work at his restaurants, he tells us that this is an event like no other. As a self-described historian of food, an accolade we think is very well deserved, Yannick Alléno dives into what he finds most charming about all things culinary and gives us a glimpse into what we can expect to see on his menu at this year’s race.

I was very excited because Ascot is such a traditional, exceptionally British thing, but no. The idea is to do an extraction of how we normally do things. Of course there is some level of self-promotion that I wouldn’t necessarily do in France - the market here did not expect me. As you know there are so many very, very talented chefs in England, so a French chef was unexpected. I’m very happy to be here and enjoy my time at Ascot.

We’re using ingredients from the local area and looking for our providers here.

We changed the menu - we’re making it fresher. It was very hot last year so I do believe people want to have something more ‘bitey’ to really enjoy the day. They’re moving, walking, looking around. We’ll be focusing more on sharing plates this year, it's definitely something that's very popular. Plus, we’ll need to be working even faster than last year.

The difference is we are really here only for a pop-up, temporarily. We are not here to put on our own performance but to share in this event and spend time with our customers and our friends. Of course we do still keep the service very serious, but what I like a lot is that we get to take the team into this kind of specific culture. It's a fantastic experience for me,this kind of thing doesn’t exist in France. Here, you get to see people wear their Ascot hats and outfits. It’s very pleasant, a big fiesta.

The quality level is fantastic. The quality of the hotels, the service — it’s amazing. The English spirit especially, if you’re looking at things from an international perspective, English hospitality has remained very traditionally English. For someone who is foreign, someone who loves to travel, it is such a pleasant thing to see that older hotels here have preserved the tradition of how things were always done. It's a really good thing, it means you get something different here.

Oh, that’s an easy question. I wasn’t very good at school, so my father sent me to be educated here. I went to Winchester for about 6 months. It was just before I was 15 years old, but I didn’t want to go to school much. My father was very understanding, he saw that I wanted to become a chef, but he told me I had to learn English before that, so I spent 6 months and the summer here.

Well, I’ve done a lot of things here in England. I’m very close with Claude Bosi so we’ve been cooking here together and doing various projects for the last 20 years. Just before Ascot I’ll be on the brand new Orient Express yacht with my restaurant.

Vacation!

I try to do nothing! We travel to Italy, often Tuscany. We also have an amazing market near the house. Nice fish, pasta, so much to choose from. I’ll explain a simple but delicious dish I love making, with chard. Overcook the chard in water, press it down very hard, chop it very finely, add lots of parmesan cheese, and put it in an omelette. Finally serve it with some green salad on top. For summer, it's absolutely fantastic.

When I travel, that's more time for me to cook. Unless I'm on the plane or on the train, I am in the kitchen with my team.

Very tough to give you just one name. If I could give a few I would say Ferran Adrià, Alain Passard, Joel Robuchon, among others of course. All of these fantastic people who have dedicated and still dedicate their lives to food.

I have wanted to cook since I was 8. I didn't know what it would lead to, that it would become what it is now, but I knew it was the thing that I wanted to do.

I think that this job is fantastic because you can enter through the door of your own specific passion. I think we need to talk about the industry as a whole much more than specific jobs - there are so many roles within the industry which can be fluid. For example, my son Thomas started as a chef and was cooking for many years but now owns an events company. In this industry you can start as a barman and finish as the general director of your own company. You can travel so much, talk with anyone on earth. Another thing to remember is that you have a great responsibility, especially when you’re at the top of the game, to make sure humanity feels better, that everyone feels better.

What we’re serving today is a modified version of the Ascot menu — a preview of what’s to come. This year, we decided to focus on sharing dishes. We have a fantastic baby chicken, roasted and served with our barbecue sauce, alongside little prawn toasts, pissaladière with anchovies, and a rich chocolate mousse designed for sharing. You’ll also have an île flottante. The menu is very much inspired by Mediterranean flavours.