After spending nearly twenty years working in the best restaurants in the world, chef Hugo Coudurier returned to Quebec to settle in Restaurant Champlain from the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac hotel. How is his return going?
© Francis Vachon Le Devoir
Chef Hugo Coudurier in his new quarters
Leaving to come back better
Born in Quebec to a French father, Hugo Coudurier left his hometown for France at the dawn of his twenties. It was there that he discovered his love for cooking. “My father having returned to France, I went to see him almost every summer,” he says. While I was in CEGEP and it was time to come back to Quebec, I told my father: I don’t want to go back. I wanted to start my cooking classes. My dad was super happy. For my mother, on the other hand, it was out of the question. We discussed it all night. But I did not return to Quebec at the end of that summer. »
His cooking training in hand and two years of experience behind the apron, he returned briefly to Quebec, to work at Laurie Raphaël for a few months. “Then I returned to France because I wanted to work in a Michelin-starred establishment,” he says. I did all the shifts in the kitchen, then I ended up at [le triple étoilé] Guy Savoy in Paris. It went really well and he suggested I go to Las Vegas to open his restaurant there. He spent two and a half years there and has been around the world since.
He moved to Doha, Qatar for a while, then to Bangkok. “I worked in a five-star hotel like here, but I was in charge of two restaurants at the same time,” he adds. I worked a lot, but it was great. I spent three years there. Then I went to Bali, where I spent six years. »
Curious by nature, he sees the routine settle after a few years in the same place. “If I am given a new challenge, I tend to answer: why not? he exclaims. And here, his biggest challenge is to find his origins.
In search of identity
Gallery: The best must-see French films (Espresso)
“Between my departure from Quebec and today, 17 years have passed,” he says. A big part of my job these days is to rediscover Quebec, its products and its artisans. »
Obviously, his work is already well underway. It must be said that he collaborates with a solid team, intimately linked to the terroir here, as is the signature of Champlain.
On the menu discovered during our visit, a delicate tartare of hamachi (Japanese amberjack) with oyster vinaigrette, sesame, black garlic from Île d’Orléans and young shoots from Trois-Rivières immediately reveals the chef’s finesse. The harmony between ingredients from here and elsewhere is a sort of nod to Hugo Coudurier’s journey. All these years spent in Asia are precious and leave delicious traces on the plate.
A second fish course follows: wild Canadian lake walleye. It is accompanied by a fricassee of squid and leeks, placed in a straw onion and miso broth, garnished with Japanese pearls. Here again, the link with Asia is clear, both for the flavors and for the techniques. But one thing that Chef Coudurier struggles to grasp in his quest for identity is the minimal fish and seafood available here. “In France or in Asia, we are surrounded by sea,” he says. We have as much fresh fish as we want. Here, we have Gaspésie, the Magdalen Islands, the North Shore, the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence and we barely manage to get fish from here on our tables. It’s a big issue. »
In fact, access to marine species from the St. Lawrence is minimal on the local market. To sum up the situation, the director of the Exploramer museum, Sandra Gauthier, often says that “we import low-end species and we export high-end species”. “That’s what surprised me the most when I came back to Quebec,” laments Hugo Coudurier. It’s really unfortunate, and I find it even shocking. »
A good dose of hope
Despite everything, Hugo Coudurier has noted several successes in Quebec gastronomy over the past two decades. “In 20 years, the number of very good restaurants has exploded,” he says. There are oysters at the grocery store, several charcuteries and artisanal cheeses…”
He also enjoys discovering local producers and artisans to present their high quality products to Champlain guests. “The wagyu beef on the menu tonight is a great discovery,” he says. The beef in question is fed organic hemp, hay and corn. The rib is then aged for four weeks, which gives it remarkable tenderness and flavor. It is also accompanied by short ribs (short ribs) braised. “I discovered this breeder from Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly through a friend. Producers like that, I want to discover plenty, ”he says enthusiastically.
In his quest for identity and knowledge of the Quebec terroir, Hugo Coudurier nevertheless wishes to follow his own path. “I don’t want to look too much at what other people are doing around me,” he says. I don’t want to know what works or what doesn’t. For me, the important thing is to take the time to rediscover Quebec, to rediscover the Quebecer in me. »
With that, he leaves us with a plate of maple pudding topped with haskap berries and vanilla ice cream. A no-brainer for some, but it’s still one of the most comforting desserts, especially when it’s been a long time since you’ve been home. Welcome home, boss!