Alsace-born Stephane Istel worked under Michel Royer and Daniel Boulud before opening Bar-Roque Grill in Singapore in July 2013. His mother's Alsatian recipes remain his favorites.
My name is Stephane Istel, and I am the chef and owner of Bar-Roque Grill. It's French in Singapore, just like me.
I was born on May 3, 1978, in picturesque Alsace, France, a beautiful place with delicious cuisine. I grew up with the wonderful aromas of my mother's kitchen. My mother expresses her love for the family through her amazing cooking of classic Alsatian dishes such as baeckeoffe.
I remember the anticipation and joy I felt as a child when she brought her clay pot of potatoes, carrots, lamb, pork and beef marinated in white wine to the dinner table: the flavor, the aroma, the amazing taste and her kind smile. It was from my mother that I learned to “cook with love.”
I have been working as a chef for 20 years now, since I was an enthusiastic 15-year-old cook (maybe not so professional yet, but a truly passionate one). I made my first yogurt cake with vanilla and chocolate when I was about seven.
Even though I loved playing soccer and dreamed of being a football player, my passion and love for my craft grew over the years, and now I can't stop cooking. I can't imagine a day without cooking at least something, let alone a week. Even on vacation, I want to cook every day.
My mother is a wonderful cook, and we grew up eating classic French dishes from Alsace. Her specialties include tarte flambée, choucroute garnie, coq au riesling and baeckeoffe. Growing up on the food she prepared with love is what first got me interested in cooking. In fact, some of the most popular dishes at my restaurant, Bar-Roque Grill, such as the tarte flambée and the apple pie, are her recipes.
I have also met several great people in my life who truly shaped me as a chef. In particular, my mentors are the chefs Michel Royer and Daniel Boulud. In my 20s, I worked for five years with my first mentor, Michel Royer, in his restaurants from St. Tropez on the Riviera to St. Martin in the Caribbean.
That time sharpened my gustatory instincts and awakened my hunger for life and for success as a chef. Michel Royer taught me to set career and life goals, to work hard toward them, to believe in them ardently and never to give up.
In 2004, I left for the US to join Daniel Boulud as sous-chef at DB Bistro Moderne in New York, and later as chef for Boulud's Feast & Fêtes Catering, spending 18 months in each position. During those three years in New York, I absorbed the principles of Daniel Boulud's famous ingredient- and seasonality-driven cuisine, along with the expertise to create it.
It was there that I also learned to use and adapt new ingredients, which proved very useful when I came to Asia. I later moved with the DB group to Canada, and then, in 2010, to Singapore.
I left DB Bistro Moderne at the start of 2013 and opened Bar-Roque Grill with my partner in July 2013. It was one of the biggest decisions of my whole life, and I'm proud of it and love it like a child.
My favorite dishes are the ones my mother cooked with love, which I also learned from her. My mom's apple tart, tarte flambée, choucroute (sauerkraut with sausages and charcuterie meats) and good schnapps from Alsace are my favorite foods. They are simple, yet incredibly delicious.
Besides cooking for my friends and loved ones, I love riding my motorbike. I recently bought a new Ducati Streetfighter, and in my spare time I enjoy riding with my friends. For me it is both a sport and leisure. I enjoy living at high speed, catching the wind and overtaking the shadows.
What can I wish readers? Well, of course I would love to welcome everyone to Bar-Roque Grill, and I look forward to cooking for you. I also wish you to find your life's work, because there is nothing more important than doing what you really love, surrounded by the people dear to you.
The dish in the picture is a charcuterie platter. I love preparing and eating charcuterie, and I was excited to buy a smoking machine for the restaurant. Every day I produce seven or eight types of charcuterie for the restaurant, all of them house-made and house-smoked. I have sharpened my butchering and charcuterie skills over the last 20 years.
The platter includes a variety of charcuterie such as country duck pâté, foie gras terrine, duck prosciutto, kurobuta white ham, pork and duck rillettes and pork knuckle terrine, served with house-pickled vegetables. The recipe I am sharing is the country duck pâté, made with duck meat, pork belly, foie gras, chicken liver and pistachios, seasoned with mixed herbs and finished with Armagnac and port. It's really delicious, so try it!
