04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Bangkok Post
Squaring the circle
Nothing will prepare you for the moment you first lay eyes on chef Bruno Verjus at his Paris restaurant. His eclectic personality is immediately noticeable in his fashion choice, which is much like the cuisine he offers.
Born in Renaisson in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, Verjus often refers to himself as the "oldest, youngest chef". Verjus, a self-taught chef, spent the early years of his career as a doctor and then a medical entrepreneur, blogger and food critic before the cooking bug took over.
"I was hosting a show on National Cultural radio with my friend Alain Kruger and felt like, 'I need to cook for people'. I then had to go to Singapore to write about a lot of restaurants. I spent 10 days there and when I came back to France, I wrote just one page and that was the concept of my restaurant and the name I wanted to call it," chef Verjus reveals.
"It was then I decided to quit everything and open Table. Everybody told me I was crazy, which was true because I did not get the point for real. I was thinking, 'Oh, my God, it's so cool, to nourish people and to open a restaurant'.
"By the way, it was not very cool, because at the beginning it was very hard, especially the first three years. I had to learn two jobs at the same time -- being a chef and being a restaurant owner, which are two different things completely. In the end, I feel I will never quit Table because I cook as a diner. I do dishes that I want to eat as a diner," says the chef.
"I'm mainly oriented to the products. In my restaurant, Table by Bruno Verjus, I keep the French tradition of doing everything à la minute. We have to remember that 40 years ago, at the time of Alain Chapel and Paul Bocuse, all the big names of French cuisine never prepared anything before. They would cook at the time the order was placed. I believe that's super important for two reasons. The first is to keep the energetic quality of the products alive. The second is that you don't cook for yourself… you don't cook to show your ego, you cook for your diners. So when they tell you what they want to eat, you feel and you cook," says chef Verjus.
"There is an amazing sentence from the French painter from the 19th century, Eugène Delacroix -- 'Painting is done by doing'. I strongly believe that cooking is done by doing; you have to have good reason to cook. 'I want to cook for you'. I want to share the best ingredients I get today and keeping that in mind, I start cooking. I put all my skills, all my love, all my knowledge, all my creation and all my mindset to make you super happy. I want my guests to be more alive after the degustation menu in my restaurant."
Table by Bruno Verjus is more or less like a chef's table, aptly called "Couleur Du Jour" offering 10-14 courses. Dishes may vary on a daily basis depending on what's available, though favourites are always on the menu. You are told upfront while making a reservation that a meal here takes two-and-a-half hours.
"Recently, I had some diners from Zurich who came for lunch. In the middle of the courses, one of them came up to me and said, 'You're doing what I dreamt of all my life'. He was about 70 years old, and I replied, 'Me too'. I've created a restaurant that I would be happy to eat in daily.
"In the beginning, it was difficult to hire staff as nobody in the field knows you. Now, we receive 30 resumes a day from people worldwide, even though I don't have any open positions. My team is very consistent and highly motivated. They've joined because of my philosophy and because they wanted to share this mindset of Table.
"My job now is not only pushing what we do but at the same time making people flourish and express themselves the best. They are the future of fine dining because all these people are going to open their own restaurant one day. So it's pure joy."
Every morning the kitchen discovers what the producers have sent them and conceive the menu.
"It's Christmas every morning because we see everything and I suggest dishes and the team builds on it. We have to listen to the product and decide what the story we want to tell.
"There are two parts to a degustation menu. It has to be enough but at the same time not too much and everything has to be balanced. Three months ago, I wanted to change the menu and we started with a plate and had a name for the menu. It's a bit like writing a novel. We have a name for the plate, 'Couleur Du Jour', which is a vegetable plate with cooked and raw vegetables.
"I mostly use local food I get from Paris and its surroundings, and as salt we always use different types of caviar. The first plate with vegetables opens your appetite for what's to come. When you come to a restaurant like Table, you have a lot of expectations. Most people don't eat much before they come and when they arrive, they are not starving, but are not too far off," laughs the chef.
"I serve two or three plates of what I like to call sea protein, where I use a lot of fish and shellfish. Sometimes I mix the pot and use animal protein, like kidney, brain, sweet breads. As soon as diners are done with their plates, there is another. It's an accumulation of plates and different flavours.
"I usually put my lobster, which is my signature, most famous dish, mid course. I'm not a meat guy, so I usually do birds, like chicken or pigeon, which are always served with something fresh like a vegetable or a salad. Sometimes I pair the pigeon with cabbage. It's not a heavy meat but something where you have the idea of the meat, but you are not killed by it. Then it's time for dessert. We have four different desserts, with a sugarless chocolate tart that is served with caviar."
Having spent 18 years in China and travelled in Asia, chef Verjus is not averse to using foreign spices. For this signature lobster he uses ghee, a subcontinent staple.
"When something is super good and I love the taste, I will use it. I also use a lot of turmeric and ginger, which happened to be the most popular spice during the Middle Ages in France."
Chef Verjus is in the process of adding another title to his six-book collection.
"I'm writing another book and it's going to be fictional novel. It will also have a lot to do with the culinary world and is like a quest. I've signed with a famous publisher in France called Albin Michel. I'm already about 200 pages in," he says.
"It's going to be published in January 2027. It's fun to take stories you get from people and at the same time create stories that don't exist. The same with the characters. It's super interesting. It will be in French but if the book is good there may be 20 translations."
With no plans to retire anytime soon, chef Verjus says he doesn't ever plan to revive his blog as he is now an author.
"I write books now. They are better than blogs and maybe, I will use many stories of my blog for a book. I have a little house on the seafront in a small village in Greece. I am happy with the wildcats there and no one else, just the sea. That is possibly where I will retire.
"In the last nine months, I've let my staff grow the kitchen. I'm deeply focused on creation and continue to push them to be more creative and to think about the things and do things without me. This is the reason why I can travel and spread my philosophy and my knowledge to places around the world. So I will be more focused on travel. In 2027, maybe 2028, I will almost retire and let my guys run Table or have their own restaurant. I'm going to be another writer."
