Swiss-born pastry chef Gregoire Michaud, named 2013 Tatler Best Pastry Chef for Macau and Hong Kong, has published 5 cookbooks and co-created Bread Elements, which bakes for restaurants and hotels.
Is bread the staff of life? Bread is a gift of nature and its essence. My name is Gregoire Michaud, and I’m a master of browned crusts and aromatic pastry.
I was born in 1975 and was surrounded by nature from early childhood. I don’t mean a garden: I mean pristine, beautiful and mighty trees, flowers and smells. My family still runs a prosperous farm in Switzerland, where they grow produce and grapes.
My mother was my cooking teacher. I was inspired by her example and followed her advice, yet I kept breaking conventional rules. I’m sure she was secretly proud of my free thinking, even though proper kneading, the choice of flour and the magic of bread making in general are a very conservative business.
Somehow, I’ve been a chef for more than 20 years. I’m a pastry chef, although I started as an assistant to a bakery manager. At some point I felt I lacked the theoretical background and knowledge of modern management methods to work effectively. So I didn’t hesitate to go back to Lausanne to get a degree in the necessary subjects.
Of course, the greatest achievements of my career are still to come. Meanwhile, one of the highlights of my life is being the opening pastry chef of a restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.
And do you know what inspires me most to achieve more? Awards. Yes, official recognition is a great motivator, and I’m no exception. All the more so because two of the group’s restaurants have been awarded 3 Michelin stars each. It means we are capable; it means we are a great and successful team, ready to conquer new peaks.
Apart from baking bread, conversing with nature and receiving awards, my “modest” biography hides 5 published cookbooks and the fact that I was named 2013 Tatler Best Pastry Chef for Macau and Hong Kong.
I value the real taste of products a lot. That’s why even in my free time I enjoy cooking, exploring new tastes and discovering unfamiliar methods. I’m sure it’s never too late to learn, and it’s foolish not to.
Today my name is closely tied to my “child”, the unique Bread Elements project. Its name is a tribute to the four elements of nature, and, by the way, there are four of us, its creators, as well. I think fertile Earth, life-giving Water, refreshing Air and hot Fire create an ideal harmony, and we recreate it every time we make our bread.
The project is unique because we are neither a confectionery nor a bakery: we bake for luxury restaurants, hotels and cafés. Baguettes, croissants or breakfast buns: all our creations are more than a lump of baked dough. They are elegant partners and companions for dishes and aperitifs, precisely playing their difficult gastronomic roles.
