Valentin Barrère

Let’s start with how long you’ve been a chef, Valentin.

I started when I was 16. At school I decided to go to catering school. I always loved cooking and being in the kitchen. I think I spent a bit too long at school, about six years.

Where was that?

Talence, which is near Bordeaux. I did six years, but during that six years, I saw a lot of the industry. I can be a receptionist, a waiter, a chef. I know about finance and law. I know all those aspects. My parents really pushed me, telling me not just to stick to cheffing, but to find out about running a business. You can be the most talented chef but if you are paying too much rent, you can’t survive. I saw some of my friends doing their apprenticeships and thought that was much better, but at the end of the day, I don’t regret anything. 

Also, in the last two years, they offer you an internship abroad, so you could work anywhere from USA, China, Canada, Mexico, even Cambodia. It was amazing. I chose England because I really wanted to practise my English. I ended up going to London to a five-star hotel, The Mandarin Oriental, for four months. It was a great opportunity and I met a lot of great people.

In the hotel you have room service, pastry, and so on, and also you have the restaurants, so Dinner by Heston, which is two Michelin star and also there is a Bar Boulud owned by the chef, Daniel Boulud. He‘s a French-born chef living in New York for about 25 years. He’s a really successful chef. I started in the hotel and then asked to move to the restaurant. A chef from a hotel is different to a chef in a restaurant. Working in the hotel is more about catering, for weddings and functions, whereas the restaurant has a menu.

I had the chance to spend the time in a two Michelin star restaurant and it is a very interesting brasserie. Then the head chef told me if I wanted a job the next year, I should call him. I got my diploma, called him and he said I could start in two weeks. I took my backpack and went. I was 21 years old. 

I left home when I was 21, spent a year there. I left an Australian chef over there, Rhys. He’s back in Australia now. He told me I should go to Australia to learn how to be more laid back because he told me I was too stressed. So, how to relax. I listened to him and that night on my computer, I found out how to get a Visa and got that in two hours. I had the money to buy my ticket, £700, a return ticket. I quit my job, took a few weeks to hang out with my friends and family and then I thought, ok, let’s go. I have been here for five years.

Are you laid back?

I think so.

Did you come to Melbourne straightaway?

No I went to Sydney first and worked for Mark Best. I was only there for three months. I was a bit homesick. It was really different, I was by myself, I had some connections, but I felt a bit lonely. To be honest, I didn’t really like Sydney. It’s nice, but I think within two weeks, you know everything, but Melbourne feels more European. I was surprised to see some similarities between London and Melbourne. Maybe the style of the architecture, but there is definitely something that reminds me. The weather is better here though.

I worked for Mark Best for about three months and I learned a lot, but I was homesick. One of my friends from my hometown was in Australia at the same time. I called him to see what he was doing. He told me he was picking oranges in Renmark, in the South of Australia. I asked to join him and he said yes of course. Then he moved to Shepparton in regional Victoria. I spent three months with him picking apples every day. They were the best three months of my life. 

You don’t know how good it is to just stop everything and step outside your comfort zone. You just need to think about what you’re going to eat that night or how cold it will be or if it’s raining because you are living in a tent. It was backpacking. Then we were worried because the magpies would eat our bread at night. We could hear the kangaroos in the apple trees and there were little lakes, so we were fishing and catching Marron. We met some Australian guys and went hunting with them. For once you live a bit freely. There were no rules. You just go with the flow and discover yourself.

There was a moment at one point where I think I understood what happiness is. It sounds weird but I was with my friends and picking apples, I had my music on and then I climbed up to the top of a Pink Lady apple tree. In order for it to be a Pink Lady, the apple had to be 50% red. If it’s not 50% red, you can’t sell it as a Pink Lady. I climbed up to the top of this tree and there was a blue sky, it was the perfect temperature and nothing…you could see nothing but trees all around. Then I found this apple. It was red…beautiful…just like in Snow White. I ate it and it was perfect. I didn’t need anything else in that moment. I didn’t need my phone or my issues or my food costs or reviews. I had the perfect apple and it made my day. Sometimes in my day to day life, I have to think about that apple so that I remember what life is really about. I learned how to embrace it.

I don’t think everyone has the chance or the ability to notice those moments and I think they are amazing moments and they do help you to appreciate life. From that point on, it set you up in a good way. 

It’s hard. Every day is hard, but sometimes you need to have something that reminds you that life is not that hard, it can be simple if you want to see it this way.

Then you came to Melbourne?

After this period I met my girlfriend. She’s Australian and lives in Melbourne. Straightaway my first choice was Vue de Monde because Nobu was the head chef at Marque (Mark Best’s restaurant), now he is the head chef of Clooney restaurant…you’re from New Zealand, aren’t you?…in Auckland there is a three hatted restaurant called Clooney. I respect this guy. He is a legend. He told me if you want to learn how to cook and how to work under pressure and be a better chef, go to Vue de Monde. I applied and got accepted and did a year and a half.

What position were you there?

It was a weird position really. I think I started as demi chef de partie then I became chef de partie. It was very hard, maybe the toughest place I ever worked. 

Even compared to London?

London was nothing compared to here. I was working in a five star hotel there, but when you work in a restaurant, it is much harder. The food we were doing at Vue de Monde was incredible; the service, the quality, the execution was unbelievable.

I haven’t spoken to anyone at Vue de Monde. How big is the team?

They’ve increased it. They have 28 chefs with maybe eight or ten on one night. It is very structured. Maybe there are more people than that. Some people are on pastry, some on production, some rotate. It was really interesting, but really hard. The standards were really hard. Sometimes I didn’t question myself and I just thought it was good, but actually it wasn’t really good enough and I didn’t have that personal standard of knowing. They gave me that. I believe they did.

Is that something you have brought into the kitchen at Estelle?

I think so, yeah. I was working with Stephen Nairn at Vue de Monde and then I followed him to ESP. I just called him actually, we stay in touch. He taught me so many things. He is one of my mentors. 

I started at Estelle as chef de partie then got sponsored by Scott, which I am really thankful for because he gave me the right to stay in this beautiful country. Last year I was promoted to sous chef, but just for a little while because we stopped ESP. Then after that he offered me the head chef position.

That’s great. People like Scott Pickett and Shannon Bennett and Stephen Nairn have a good name in Melbourne, so you are working with excellent people.

I don’t know if it is luck, or…

Obviously it is your work ethic and ability as well. 

Well they have to trust me. I had to prove myself to someone like Stephen. But now, I just had him on the phone and I was asking his advice. He told me I could always call him, we go for a beer and talk about things. I am never alone. I’ve known him for three years now. I appreciate when people take you under their wing and make you a better person.

I like to think that there is a community like that amongst chefs, especially in Melbourne. It’s a hard gig and we hear about chefs suffering from mental health issues or the pressure, alcohol and drug abuse. We hear about that in the media and I’d like it if chefs were helping each other. It’s good to know that they are. So now that you’re head chef and Estelle and ESP have become one, is the food a bit different?

This is my first role as a head chef…

Although great that you did all that background work when you were studying…

Yes because now I have those things in my head, but it IS my first role as a head chef. So think about when you start in a new job or new role, maybe you have the title of head chef, but you’re not the head chef yet. Yes I have the title but right now I don’t consider myself to be a head chef. I’m learning. I’m aspiring to be one. As Scott says, I still have my L plates. I’m still making mistakes. I have the confidence that I will get there very shortly. 

Scott and I have been working together on the menu. He has given me a lot of freedom. From August until the reopening in February, I wasn’t working in a restaurant, I was working with him on events. We did the Gourmet Escape in Western Australia. We did some events in Byron Bay and Sydney. There was a lot of organisation. It was great. The I had to work on my stuff. I really wanted to make some bread, some fermented stuff. I ended up doing it and I am very happy. 

Then with Scott we started working on the menu and he said I had some choice over what I wanted to do, but also that he wanted me to do that, that, that and that. You know Scott told me he wanted me to make macaroni cacio de pepe. I want that, but I want you to execute it, so it is his idea but my way of executing it. Also in this equation, you have to think that I have a great team; three sous chefs, which is a lot, but I have three senior members and they are all from different cultures and backgrounds. There is one French, one English and one Finnish. Those guys are amazing. I respect for them. Charlie was a pastry chef and worked at a lot of places such as The Square, Eleven Madison Park, all around the world.

I read about him on Broadsheet. They said he was an amazing pastry chef. 

He used to be a pastry chef but now he wants to be considered a savoury chef because he is a bit over pastry. He did create the whole dessert menu. Amazing desserts. Then there is Tony, he is French. I have been working with him for two years. He is a machine for mise en place and doing all the prep. He is classic French trained. Then we have Pasi, Scandinavian, from Finland. He is a machine. You tell him to do something and he just does it, he doesn’t speak and he is really good at what he does. He loves doing pasta, loves it. So when I said, we have to do macaroni with cacio de pepe, he said, sweet, this is my project. So it is not only one face. I am the maestro and they are the musicians. 

I was going to ask you whether you have found your leadership style but it sounds as though you have.

I’m still trying to find my leadership style but they have been really receptive to me and they understand that it is my first time, so they help me also. Then we have the junior members who need to be guided and trained, it is part of our job to train people. It has been an interesting journey that I have just started. It’s good. So far it is the hardest job I have ever had, but it’s good, it’s different.

Well yes, you’re at a well-known restaurant with a chef who is well-known. Everyone who moves in food circles knows who Scott Pickett is. 

Scott is a very demanding chef. He is a really unique character. I don’t know if you know him.

I’ve certainly met Scott and I always appreciate that he remembers who I am. I had a chat to Tim Young, his head chef at Matilda. Matilda is big. How big is Estelle? How many can you seat?

We can do 70 guests in the dining room, 28 in the courtyard and then we can also do the PDO, which is 40.

When you say Scott is a demanding chef, are you able to enjoy what you’re doing, or are you on the edge of your seat, worrying about what Scott thinks?

He is demanding because he has a lot of expectations and he has been working in really good restaurants. His standards are high and that’s why he wants the best of everything. But at the same time, I have freedom. If I have an idea about something and I show him and he says it’s yummy…for him what matters is that it needs to be yummy. That’s what is important. He does not care about little flowers or putting a gel on it or all this, excuse my French, bullshit. He just wants something that when you eat it, you enjoy it and it creates pleasure. That’s Scott. He wants to create pleasure for people. 

I like that. Isn’t that what it’s about? What would be your driving force as a chef?

I think that’s pretty much it. I think doing something that I believe is right for me; right for the environment, because this needs to be taken into consideration and then, just have fun. I don’t want to be stressed at work, if I want to do it, I just do it and if you don’t like it, food is subjective, just like art. There is a process, there is work behind it. We are not just serving crap.

Do you read reviews?

Yeah, I do. I take everything into consideration. As long as there is a thought process behind it. If someone didn’t like it because they didn’t think the meat was cooked properly, then maybe it was a mistake on our part or maybe you don’t know. The other day a guy said he didn’t like the meat, it was a bit chewy. I went and told him I would do something else for him and then he was fine. We need feedback.

People need to give you feedback so you can fix things if need be. Are you doing specials?

At the moment we’re not doing specials. It is only two week sold. I don’t want to burn my wings by doing a lot of things when we are trying to find the mechanics, the chemistry between the front of house, back of house, the hours etc to make everything perfect. But eventually, yes, why not?

If a vegetable grows for one week and it’s amazing, yeah, I’ll make a special.

Maybe Pink Lady apples, nature. Where do you get ideas? Is it from books or other chefs or Instagram?

That’s funny actually because I deleted Instagram. I don’t want to see it any more. I feel by being on your phone all the time and checking what other people are doing, I think you will corrupt your mind at a certain point. I don’t know what to think.

I think you have to go with your own feeling for yourself.

I read a lot of books although I can’t really read right now, I prefer to sleep. But I did read a lot of books and they helped me a lot. They taught me how to make bread and cheese. I want to go back to basics. I didn’t know how to make bread, but I worked for three weeks, every day making bread. Every day I changed something and I made it and I am very happy with my bread. I don’t have any background. But I read the book, understood the percentages, gave it a go and it works. 

Charcuterie. I didn’t know how to make charcuterie. I have a lot of friends at Bar Boulud and we were doing pâté en crouteand pâté and they gave some advice. It’s a weird world, though, they don’t really want to give recipes. They keep them for themselves. They gave me tips and then I made my own and now we are making pâté en croute. I don’t think it is at the level of a charcutier who has that has his job, but I think it is at a level we can serve in a restaurant. I’m very happy with the taste and the quality.

That’s satisfying. 

So, how do I get my ideas…I just read, and I think about my childhood as well. This is something that helped me a lot My parents and grandparents were always growing vegetables or taking me to pick mushrooms or go fishing. My grandmother always made eggplant beignet and I loved it, so I thought, why not make that. 

Visiting countries and travelling gives me ideas as well. I went to Asia last year and it was amazing to see what they can do with not very much. They do very flavoursome food. 

Also, talking to people. When I take an Uber, honestly I have never had an Australian guy. It is always people from all around the world. Instead of saying, hey how are you? Good, yeah you? And that’s it. Such a useless conversation. Instead I say, what would you eat right now? And then they tell you what their mum or grandmother used to cook. They say where they are from and I ask them where you can try that kind of food and they tell you. By meeting random people, as long as they speak English or French, I can have a great conversation, just by asking, what food do you like. No one has ever told me they don’t like food. Once you have this knowledge in the bank then you remember what someone told you and instead of having Uber Eats that day, you go to the place he told you and see what is going on.

I like it. That is even more taking it back to basics because it is the human input, what is important to us. It’s simple, but great.

Estelle

243-245 High Street, Northcote