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PRESS Jacques Reymond the chef and Jacques Reymond the restaurant
are both Melbourne treasures. The latter combines formal and Jacques Reymond, Outstanding Achievement Award. If his restaurant had been merely successful for the past two decades, it would be enough. Yet it's done much more, having gone to the top from the start and stayed there, an enormous challenge in this volatile industry. The man behind it is unique, still a slave to his creative muse after all these years. Thank you, Jacques Reymond. The Good Food Guide 2008 The man behind the only three-hat restaurant in this Year's Age Good Food Guide has been clocking up significant achievements for some decades now. From gaining a Michelin star at his restaurant in France in the early '80s to celebrating the 20th anniversary of his acclaimed restaurant in Melbourne this year, Jacques Reymond has packed a lot into a career spanning 45 years. Yet perhaps the most interesting achievement is also the most recent one. At an age when many of his chef restaurateur peers are slowing down, Reymond in his mid-50s is at the height of his creative powers. For anyone who's visited his eponymous restaurant in Windsor over the
past year or so, the proof is on the plate. Alongside the brilliance and originality has come a new sense
of restraint as though, in common with all great artists, the chef has realised that it's what you leave out that makes all the difference.
Jacques Reymond, the man. has been in the game for so long it's easy to forget his contribution as a culinary innovator. He was one of the first to offer a degustation menu in Melbourne, at his newly opened Richmond restaurant back in 1987. He was probably the first chef in Australia to incorporate native ingredients into top-end dining, a practice he continues today. Similarly. his classically based cuisine embraced Asian flavours and textures long before it was fashionable. And his restaurant's rejection of entree-main in favour of "small plates" in 2002 has paved the way for countless imitators. Along the way he's opened a successful cafe - Arintji in Federation Square - and mentored a first-class team at Jacques Reymond. including daughter Nathalie as sommelier and Chris Young as manager. Exceptional creativity. Prodigious talent. An insatiable appetite for work. And - not to be underestimated - quite simply. a love of what he does. The Melbourne restaurant scene would be much the poorer without the master. Jacques Reymond. Necia Wilden, The Age, 28th August
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relaxed elements in a stylish, seemingly effortless package,
with all the classic fine-dining accoutrements - quality
glassware, snowy linen and spacious tables - harmonising with
the room's modern, clean lines. Service echoes this balance:
friendly, informative and attentive, but absent when you want it
to be. Chef Reymond continues to masterfully blend ingredients
and influences in unexpected ways. All dishes are served
entree-size. Gorgeously textured smoked and poached salmon might
be topped with tomato jelly, salmon mousse and a sweet and spicy
nougatine and teamed with oysters spiced up with wasabi pearls;
a deconstructed lime and coconut blue swimmer crab ravioli might
be capped with a disc of sliced tuna mixed with a 'tagine' spice
paste and served with a Vietnamese crepe. Tastes and textures
continually surprise - a quartet of brightly coloured citrus
desserts arrives looking as playful as painted toys. Combining
stylish precision with passionate creativity, Jacques Reymond
remains one of this city's best dining experiences.
The Good Food Guide 2008