It features more than 100 recipes and has already been shortlisted for the “Oscars” of the international cookbook industry.
It’s Brisbane’s most celebrated French restaurant, and now it has its own cookbook.
Last week Montrachet owner Clement Chauvin released Bistronomie, featuring a bunch of recipes from the King Street restaurant.
If this all seems a bit soon – Chauvin only took possession of Montrachet just over a year ago, after all – it’s because Montrachet shares the book with the chef-patron’s longstanding Canberra restaurant, Les Bistronomes.
“The cookbook has been a work in progress for two and a half years,” Chauvin says. “After 10 years of running Les Bistronomes, you have all these recipes in your head, written on pieces of paper.
“I thought to myself, Clem, if you want to expand, the next step is to actually put your recipes in black in white in a book – create a manuscript, basically of what Les Bistronomes is.
“Then came taking over Montrachet, while we were working on it. And after six months of Montrachet, I thought, ‘Okay, what’s going to make the connection between the two businesses and promote both under my name?’ And it became clear that it was already in the works. It was the cookbook. It was the best way to put out there the two restaurants and explain the overall concept of what we do.”
Bistronomie features more than 100 recipes from both restaurants, but Chauvin says he’s also using the book as an opportunity to try to demystify French cuisine for the home cook.
“French cooking is technical,” he says. “That’s why it becomes intimidating. What I try to tell people is to not replicate the recipe. Instead, get inspiration from the recipe, look at the ingredients, look at the technique, and put your own spin on it.
“You might not get the same result as the book, but by putting your own special ingredient in, you’ll get something absolutely delicious. You follow your instincts and that’s what cooking is all about.”
Chauvin is conscious of the fact that, at Montrachet, he’s following in the footsteps of previous owners Shannon Kellam and Thierry Galichet, both of whose reputations continue to loom large over the restaurant.
But he reckons, a year on from taking the reins, the restaurant is building a new relationship with Brisbane diners, making the book well-timed.
“It’s started to find its flow and we have old customers starting to come back, so that’s been beautiful to watch,” he says. “It’s different to the old Montrachet but customers are starting to appreciate that change.”
The key Montrachet dishes in the book?
“We have our signature dishes in there: the beef Wellington and duck a l’orange,” Chauvin says. “They’re dishes that have never left the menu. We also have a steak tartare in there.”
Before you ask, though: no, the classic Montrachet crab souffle isn’t featured. Why? Because it’s not one of Chauvin’s recipes.
“It’s not my dish. It’s been with the restaurant since its inception, more or less,” he says. “I’m not one for taking something that’s not mine and making it mine.”
As for the cookbook’s reception thus far, it’s already been shortlisted for this year’s Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, often described as the Oscars of the cookbook world.
“That’s incredible,” Chauvin says. “And we’ll find out on November 29 if the book makes it to the top three.”
Bistronomie by Clément Chauvin is available from the Montrachet website.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
