Each year, star chef Olivier Roellinger criss-crosses the planet in search of inspiration for the dishes he lovingly prepares at his award-winning restaurant in the small Brittany port of Cancale.

Yet he insists that what he is trying to serve up is, above all, home cooking.

For this quintessentially philosophical Frenchman, cooking is more than a simple question of measurements, ingredients and temperature.

"My cooking is the cooking of the house I grew up in," says the mild-mannered 52-year-old, who this month is the subject of a new book and a film.

Home and away

Roellinger in fact opened his restaurant, Les Maisons de Bricourt, in 1982 in the house where he was born. In 2006 it was awarded what is arguably the gastronomic world's ultimate accolade — three stars by the Michelin Guide, the foodie-bible. It was the first time a restaurant specialising in fish and seafood had received that honour.

His creations include oysters with nutmeg and chiloe pepper, turbot with citrus zests and halong talauma vinaigrette, and lobster whipped up in sherry, chilli and cocoa.

"I see myself as a chef of the world's coastal regions," he told AFP, saying seaside dwellers had a lot in common, including an openness to new ideas.

"I remember growing up and not knowing if the people on the streets had just arrived from somewhere or were preparing to leave on the next boat. I found that incredibly exciting."

"And then there's that idea of the message in a bottle when you live by the sea, of new ideas arriving from far away," he added.

Before becoming the Roellinger family home, Les Maisons de Bricourt belonged to French spice traders of the well-known Compagnie des Indes.

The importance of spice

And spices figure heavily in Roellinger's cuisine, with a stock of over 120 selected during his regular jaunts to countries as far apart as India, Brazil, Japan or Vietnam.

Describing some of them as "dynamite", he says that without them his dishes would be "linear, bland and sad". But using spices properly is an art not easy to master, he warns.

"When I prepare a spice mix today I don't usually need to taste it. I sometimes get it slightly wrong but generally it's the right combination. But getting to that point has been the result of 28 years of work and experimentation."

Likewise his discerning palate "is not a gift, it's hard work. Twice a day I spend two hours with a spoon in my mouth".

Yet Roellinger never intended to become a chef. As the son of well-off parents he studied chemistry at university "to make mum happy", and spent his free time sailing. Then, in 1976 at the age of 20, his life changed dramatically.

Life-changing experience

"One evening I was attacked on the ramparts of Saint Malo and left for dead," he said. "It took me two years to recover and for more than one of them I wasn't sure if I would ever walk again."

During his convalescence at the family home, with friends coming to visit, he began cooking.

And the rest is history. "Perhaps I wanted to rediscover the happiness of my childhood. It was also a way of staying here," he said.

As for his regular trips, Roellinger says he doesn't simply travel to collect recipes.

"What touches me more than anything else is the relationship between people and their environment. I try to bring that idea into the dishes I prepare. I became a chef because I wanted to get closer to the sensual side of life, closer to other people," he explained.

A memorable experience

Today, Roellinger would seem to have achieved almost all of his dreams. But he confesses that running a top restaurant is not without its worries.

"One of my biggest fears is that my restaurant becomes a kind of luxury ghetto," he said, recognising that the prices at "Les Maisons de Bricourt" — which average between €100 and €170 per head — could discourage some.

But there were few typical "three-star" customers nowadays, he said, "the rich person with a three-piece suit".

"They come of course, but what I often see is people who come for a special occasion, a birthday, a wedding, and perhaps this will be their only time.

"For those customers it's vital we make their experience memorable," he said.

AFP