I had the opportunity to meet with Claude Bosi, Chef proprietor of Hibiscus restaurant in London recently. Hibiscus had been awarded two Michelin stars in Ludlow, Shropshire before being relocated in the capital at the end of last year and didn’t disappoint either: one Michelin Star after a few months of opening only, and an expected rating of two stars from the famous guide. Claude Bosi combines strong French cooking foundations with a personal and innovative touch. In our interview, Claude told us about his style of cooking, his influences and a little bit of his secret too…                   Olivier Bourseau: You have trained and worked with some of the best French chefs such as Alain Passard, Alain Ducasse, Jean-Paul Lacombe or even Patrick Henriroux at La Pyramide. Who was the most inspirational for you if there was one and why? Claude Bosi: Yes I have one main inspirational chef who really taught me and if I am where I am at the moment it is thanks to this guy who really opened my eyes. But the 4 names you just mentioned are 4 so different chefs. Jean-Paul Lacombe (from the two Michelin Stars restaurant “Léon de Lyon” in Lyon-France) where I did my “apprentissage” (French cooking apprenticeship) had a strong Lyon-based cooking culture. There was no fuss about it, you had to cook dishes such as “Gratin de Gras-Double” (very traditional dish from Lyon) and that was it! He was very traditional. At La Pyramide it was different. There were many classic dishes from Fernand Point (the legendary chef who made the name and fame of La Pyramide restaurant in Vienne, now run by Patrick Henriroux with 2 Michelin Stars), such as the “Gratin d’Ecrevisse” the “Poulet Demi d’Oeil”. After Alain Ducasse (the world famous French chef with his 2 main restaurants in Paris at the Plaza Athenee Hotel and Louis XV in Monaco both 3 Michelin Stars amongst many other restaurants he runs under his name across the world) was all about consistency on the quality of the products you use and the Ducasse school is very machine-like, you are a little bit like a robot. Then finally Alain Passard taught me the essence of what I do now. Alain Passard (Chef who runs the 3 Michelin Stars restaurant L’Arpège in Paris) is a cook, not a chef but a cook or what you call a “cuisinier” in French. He has a lot of respect for the ingredients, and let the product or ingredient talk for itself. And when you understand this you can do anything. He was my main influence. Olivier Bourseau: There seem to be a lot of innovation in your cooking with exciting texture like your Passion fruit Gel in your Millefeuille, or using ingredients in uncommon contexts like the Iced Brown Bread Parfait. How do you get your inspiration in creating such dishes and for your cooking in general? Claude Bosi: Yes we were talking about the French foundations I have and if we relate this to the Iced Brown Bread parfait, you have in this country the brown bread ice cream which is really classic. So from this you adapt it by making it a bit lighter, a bit more modern too. I think nobody invents anything. I read a lot of cookery books where it is there in black and white. You then have to trim it to make sure you get the right thing. With regards to the passion gel with the Millefeuille: the millefeuille is made with coffee and caramel and is quite rich, so you need to balance the dish with something quite sharp, and this is where the passion fruit came from. You have to have some balance in the plate. The way we describe the food here is if you eat maybe one element of the dish on its own, you might not like it, but if you eat everything together, it works and this is how I build the plate. It is a matter of combination. Olivier Bourseau: You came to the UK in 1997 with the view to set up your own restaurant. Why deciding on the UK and not France? Claude Bosi: When I came in 1997, it was for 6 months only! I finished in Paris, and I had had enough and wanted to travel a bit and went to a recruitment agency. I told them I wanted to go to England not London and found this opportunity in Ludlow. And after a while the owner of the place offered me the opportunity to become head chef and I agreed and took the kitchen in February 1998. We then got one Michelin Star in 1999. So I thought maybe “we are doing something right here so we might be staying a bit longer”. I stayed for about 2 years and met my wife at the time Claire and I thought maybe it was the time to do our own thing. From then we looked around for a place but it was difficult. We were 2 young people of 24/25 years old and when you go and see the bank and say “ I need £100,000” they look at you and they say “ we will give half of what you have”. I said “thank you”, but we didn’t have that much at all. We managed to find a small restaurant in Ludlow though, the same kind of place like the one where I was working before for £40,000 so we bought it. And we started Hibiscus in May 2000. Olivier Bourseau: In terms of your wine list, it is a combination of Old and New world. How do you work with your sommelier? Claude Bosi: Being a French restaurant, Wine is part of the tradition. We have to have some good wines. I am from Lyon so the whole Rhône Valley and even Burgundy are my favourite regions. For our wine list Simon Freeman is the person in charge. He makes me try some wines and he has been working with me for three and a half years. He doesn’t have an easy job, because of the combinations of different flavours we do. When I show him the new menu he starts to shake his head and asking questions “what am I going to put with this?” But he has been doing great. Olivier Bourseau: You are from Lyon originally and you mentioned the Rhône Valley and Burgundy before being your favourite. Apart from these, which other wine regions in the world do you find interesting? Claude Bosi: I like Chile, and Portuguese wines too which are completely different than the Rhône Valley for instance. Yes that is it. Of course there are other areas such as California and Australia too, but I really like Portuguese wines, they are very nice! Olivier Bourseau: Thank you very much Claude!