Despite some panicked reports about a downturn in trade at some of the French capital’s Chinese restaurants as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Lee, Grattard and Chung say it’s business as usual.
“Most of my guests are French,” says Lee. “Only about 20 per cent are Chinese. But most of my French guests have visited China and they appreciate that what we are doing here is very high-end.”
Lee is fortunate to have a brigade of Chinese-speaking chefs, because immigration laws are extremely tough in France; it is difficult to get the paperwork to bring in trained Chinese kitchen personnel.
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Another Michelin-starred chef, whose unique style of fusion cooking is inspired by her travels and family in China, is Grattard, owner of yam’Tcha, Paris. Bedsides the immigration issue, the language barrier is also a problem faced by Chinese restaurants, she says.
“You can’t come over to France as a Chinese chef, open a restaurant and employ local staff without a knowledge of the language. It’s impossible to work in a kitchen when you can’t communicate.”
According to Grattard, there are not many good Chinese restaurants in Paris. “In England or Canada, you have a bigger Chinese community. In France, the Chinese are not chefs or cooks. They create restaurants and … it’s just a job, a way to survive. They do business and they know how to do volume.”
The disparity between one-Michelin-star restaurants like Shang Palace, yam’Tcha – which is inspired by Chinese flavours but also uses French techniques and ingredients – and the more casual dining rooms found in each of Paris’ three Chinatown districts is noticeable.
The 13th arrondissement, a vast triangular area known as “Quartier Asiatique” is filled with supermarkets and restaurants featuring pan-Asian dishes and ingredients. The neighbourhood has significant numbers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian residents.
To the east is Belleville – a diverse, bohemian area and home to a mixed community from Southeast Asia and China, with a growing number of Chinese restaurants.
The smallest Parisian Chinatown has a large community from Wenzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, and is in the 3rd arrondissement – near the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers.
Close by in Rue Saint Denis, a queue of young, hip Parisians wait to enter a small restaurant with three red lanterns hanging beneath an awning festooned with greenery. This is Petit Bao, a casual Chinese diner serving popular street snacks and main dishes, which opened just over a year ago.
With an energetic team and fashionable clientele, it operates a zero-waste policy and offers several vegan options to please the increasingly environmentally conscious population of the French capital.
Petit Bao co-founder Chung grew up around the corner from the restaurant, in the 3rd arrondissement.
“I was born in France, but my family are from Wenzhou. My grandparents still live there,” she explains. “My parents ran an import-export business at the beginning of their careers and this gave me the willingness to become an entrepreneur too.”
Chung studied in Shanghai for a year and on returning to Paris craved the food she had enjoyed during her stay in China.
“I couldn’t find a typical Shanghai restaurant and I was so sad, as I think Chinese food is amazing. I really love the complexity. There are all the mixtures of flavours and textures. So I decided we needed to have a good Chinese restaurant.”
Petit Bao was the result of this decision, with a focus on organic and high-end, locally sourced ingredients. Every menu item is made from scratch each day, by hand.
The Petit Bao website features a catchphrase in both Chinese and English – NO DOGS, NO CATS, NO RATS. JUST CHINESE FOOD. Chung put it there as a joke.
“I wanted to change the image people have of Chinese restaurants – they are not sure what they are eating; they don’t think it is very clean. I wanted to change this vision, so I want a Chinese restaurant that serves traditional recipes but with good products.”
Over at Shang Palace, Lee, too, considers himself a culinary ambassador – trying to change the misconceptions some locals may have of Chinese cuisine.
“Chinese [cuisine] is perceived as low-end and I want to develop the image here. It is not a cheap cuisine – we have a very historic cuisine.”
Lee suggests that a paucity of affordable mid-range Chinese food concepts in Paris is a barrier to changing perceptions.
“In London there are places introducing customers to regional Chinese cuisines, bridging the gap between the cheap takeaway and the high end [restaurant]. That is what Paris lacks. People are nervous about taking the leap into spending a lot of money on Chinese food with which they are unfamiliar,” he says.
At Petit Bao, the menu is fairly priced: a pair of pork-stuffed baozi costs €6 (US$7), six xiaolongbao are priced at €10; a plate of breaded tofu fingers with a home-made chilli barbecue sauce (a huge hit with vegans) costs only €6.
The restaurant interior is minimalist – white tiles with green painted plants; an open kitchen staffed with dumpling and wok masters forms the focal point. As well as offering a selection of organic Chinese teas, Chung also has exclusive craft beers imported from Hong Kong.
“We are the only restaurant in France to have this beer. Most just sell Tsingtao,” she says. “Young Master has notes of lychee and lime and our guests love it.”
Over in Rue Saint-Honoré, Grattard’s stylish yam’Tcha kitchen is visible from the street. Curious passers-by stare and take photographs, as the chefs create dishes for her tasting menus combining French and Chinese techniques and ingredients. One of Grattard’s most talked-about dishes is a steamed bun filled with Stilton, an English blue cheese, and Amarena cherry.
Grattard spent time living and working in China and Hong Kong with her husband, tea master Chi Wah Chan. She starred in an episode of the French series of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, in which she explains how her unique cuisine reflects her life, loves and travels.
The couple also run a boutique serving fine teas and imaginative steamed buns. Her latest endeavour, named after Hong Kong’s famous milk tea, lai’Tcha is described as a “bistrot chinois” – another venue designed to fill the Parisian void between top-end and takeaway Chinese restaurant.
Located in Les Halles, in a tall space with a vaulted wooden ceiling and informal seating, lai’Tcha has an impressive wonton bar offering translucent-skinned shrimp wontons alongside a selection of drinks – including Hong Kong milk tea.
On Sundays lai’Tcha hosts a popular “Asian brunch”; on Tuesday evenings, Grattard herself visits lai’Tcha to present a tasting menu – an opportunity to try her spectacular cuisine in relaxed surroundings and at a reasonable price.
Despite her own efforts to improve the image of Chinese food in Paris, Grattard thinks it will be a slow process. “I’m not sure a lot will change even in 10 years,” she says. “It is hard for French chefs to learn in China and it is hard for Chinese chefs to come over here.”
Shang Palace’s Lee truly enjoys the challenge of running his award-winning restaurant. His dim sum is simple, but exquisite: local blue lobster, a French delicacy, is enfolded in a feather-light wrapper to make perfect har gow.
“I use the finest French ingredients, like lobster, caviar and ceps in my Chinese cuisine, but I won’t change a recipe to please Western tastes,” says Lee.
His competitive streak keeps him motivated to push for greatness in a city ablaze with Michelin stars and which hosts a highly demanding gastronomic audience.
“For a chef it is a dream to come to Paris,” Lee says. “It is the home of many fine restaurants with good ingredients, good wine. [Fine dining] has a history in this country … I want to lure guests. I want them to have a perfect experience and I am constantly learning.”
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