Breaking Bread with Chef André Chiang
With every dish he creates, Chef André Chiang wants to capture the taste of a place and the story of a journey. We stepped into the kitchen of the culinary curator onboard the Eastern & Oriental Express as it travels through Malaysia for an insight into his culinary philosophy and the art of writing a menu.
While a plate of food can convey more than just a flavour or a feeling, for Chef André, a dish is a way to enrich the experience of a destination. Born in Taiwan, the culinary curator of the Eastern & Oriental Express lived in Japan for many years as a child before moving to France where he joined the team at le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier. Here, he spent the next 15 years working his way up through the kitchen until he became head chef of this three-Michelin-starred restaurant before developing his signature culinary "Octo-philosophy", which brings together the eight elements that make up his dishes: salt, texture, memory, pure, terroir, south, artisan and unique.
Creativity has surrounded Chef André Chiang’s life from very early on – his father was a passionate Chinese calligraphy artist and his mother, a Chef who inspired the start of his culinary journey. These foundations from his family are still used when developing his menus.
How would you describe your culinary style?
“Since we were little, in my family, we tried to develop a sense of beauty. That's how a culinary experience is supposed to be; I’m almost like a director curating a movie. If I give you a spice, you can recognize whether it's from India, Southeast Asia or from the South of France. Even blindfolded, [I] can transport you on a journey of spices.”
How did you craft the menu onboard?
“We create the menu according to the destination. As the whole train moves, you smell different smells, see different views. We think about what the guests will see this morning and what’s supposed to be on the plate. Normally, we serve the Penang duck curry – a Chinese style curry with Malaysian spices – when we reach Penang.”
Talk us through some of the standout dishes:
“Along the way, at every stop, we upload fresh ingredients, such as the local fish and local herbs. We call [the markets] and tell them: “we arrive tomorrow”. They will stand by the ingredients that we want, we want to make sure that it's as fresh as possible. We use all the local seafood and then we use French bouillabaisse base, and we put in a sambar. We even add in a touch of our garlic and Curry powder. This is our Laksa Bouillabaisse, a play of the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. In a way, it is our bouillabaisse.”
Describe the process behind your culinary curation:
“The magic of Eastern & Oriental Express experience is that you're constantly asking yourself a question; “where am I?”. It’s the same thing with the cuisine – this food could be in anywhere in French Alps, the next dish it could be in the jungle out of Southeast Asia. Our cuisine is part of the setting of the whole experience, and I think that's a very interesting magic of Eastern Oriental Express.”
Find out more about the Eastern & Oriental Express’ new chapter in the latest episode from our Breaking Bread series with Chef André Chiang – watch the full film on Belmond’s YouTube channel.
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