Omnivore: inside the world’s best kitchens

THE OMNIVORE WORLD TOUR: Frenchie’s Grégory Marchand
Photos by Robb Jamieson

The Omnivore World Tour descended on the Société des arts technologiques this past weekend, showcasing international and local chefs through cooking demonstrations, collaborative dinners and a Saturday night culinary throwdown with plenty of wine and beats.

The master-class demonstrations were held Saturday through Monday in the dome on top of the SAT. Guests sat around a central kitchen to watch the chefs work their magic and chat about their trade. A live feed of the demo and flashing images were projected on the dome walls while rock ‘n roll was piped into the room, making for a high-tech sensory experience.

Grégory Marchand kick-started Saturday afternoon with five dishes reflecting the market cuisine of his Parisian restaurant, Frenchie. Having spent some time sourcing his ingredients at the Jean-Talon market with his sous-chef, Marchand wanted to improvise with ingredients that caught his eye. Very humbled at the number of people who showed up to watch him cook, Marchand spoke about his new venture, Frenchie Wine Bar, which embodies the spirit of his original restaurant, only with smaller, tapas-style dishes.

Some of the vibrant and colorful dishes he prepared for us included a salad consisting of sous-vided watermelon cubes mixed with wild mint, fava beans, broad beans and ricotta. This was followed by halibut confit in olive oil, served in a tomato broth with salicorn, onions pickled in beet juice, local cherry tomatoes, orange zest and wild fennel sprouts.

A must for my next trip to Paris, Frenchie is usually booked two months in advance. By the looks of his food and the three-courses-for-45-euros price point, I know why. Check out the video of a day in Marchand’s life below:

Although I am definitely a savoury kind of gal, I was totally blown away by the talent of Montreal restaurant Les 400 Coups’ pastry chef, Patrice Demers. Although he was passionate about magic until his early twenties, Demers joked that one day the idea of becoming a professional magician just disappeared, replaced by a drive for all things sweet.

His starting point for most of his desserts is fruit — he actually doesn’t like working with chocolate that much. With the whole audience salivating at his three masterful concoctions, Demers played with textures and always seemed to work in a little surprise. Smiling and laughing, we got to see how his cooking style reflected his personality. To describe each dessert would not do them justice, but I have to say that Demers takes his inspiration from all over the place, adding sous-vided celery to his strawberries for crunch, using wild Quebec rose powder and even soaking basil seeds he found in Chinatown so that they take on the shape and texture of tapioca pearls. I’m already saving up for Les 400 Coups — and I’ll definitely leave room for dessert.

On a personal note, I think it’s great to see how far this city’s talents have come and how much respect they’ve gained from the international culinary world. If you missed this year’s Omnivore, you can still make a point of heading out to the restaurants staffed by the local chefs who participated and graciously gave us a little more insight into why they do what they do. ■

Derek Dammann at Omnivore