You specify on Instagram that you are opening a restaurant “surrounded by a cloud of water”. What is this story again?
I wanted a restaurant perched in the clouds, a house that flies away, like in the cartoon “Là-Haut”. So, I asked the architects to find a way to bring this dream to life. The result is a restaurant perched 14 meters high, surrounded by a cloud of water created by misters, which is accessed by an elevator. During the climb, this also allows you to see the kitchens, whose windows overlook the outside. We’ll say hello to customers (laughs).
Another thing that may surprise you for an internationally renowned chef is that you asked your followers on Instagram for their opinion on the name of this bistro. Why is this?
These people follow me assiduously, they comment and share what I do, and I found it normal to ask them for their opinions. Why would my one brain come up with a better idea than 600,000 brains? (laughs) As a teenager, I would have loved it if chefs like Pierre Gagnaire, for example, did that. Can you imagine being able to come up with an idea for a restaurant name for a great chef you follow? It’s simply brilliant.
And you received a lot?
In 24 hours, the post must have 3,000 comments, and many people offer up to ten ideas! Yesterday, shortly after I posted, my phone kept ringing and vibrating, I couldn’t use it, I had to turn it off! I was so surprised by this enthusiasm. We plan to open the proposals for ten days before studying them one by one.
After everything you have built, your international projects, the recognition you have obtained… Are you still really surprised by this?
Ah, I certainly always will! I will never be able to get used to it. It’s very abstract, these numbers on a screen. What does 15 million views on a video mean? That means that 15 million people saw it, of course, but we can’t imagine such a number. This is also why I want to reach out to these people, to give them of myself by being natural as I have always been: it is to make concrete what the screens have magnified, but in an abstract way. And I am lucky to have a caring community, which is truly supportive, and with whom I communicate in complete transparency.
The Bayview restaurant at the President Wilson hotel in Geneva
