Photo: Francis Mallmann in one of his restaurants in Chile. (2017)
Various statements by Francis Mallmann over the years
Francis told the newspaper La Voz del Interior in 2013: "Pairing is an invention of the wineries to create greater variety of wines. 30 years ago there were two wines, Chablis and Burgundy, and we were all happy eating and drinking, just like now."
Francis Mallmann, the world's most famous Argentine chef, doesn't enter the kitchen of his restaurants when "action time" arrives. And he has no problem admitting it. "I go to my restaurants, I teach recipes, I change the menu, but while people are sitting at the table, I'm never in the kitchen."
Mallmann – 69 years old, with a career spanning over 48 years, with restaurants in Latin America, the United States and Europe, best-selling books and television programmes – prefers to stay in the dining room, chatting with his guests, who range from the President of China to Madonna, Roger Waters or the Rolling Stones, and above all observing the "scenes" he creates for them.
“I chose to become a chef for the setting. As a child, I was fascinated by beautiful, cheerful places where people went to eat and have fun. My first attraction to restaurants was precisely this: the scenography. And I still give it a lot of importance today. Because my restaurants are like my homes: I have to really like them, I have to feel at ease. I can't work in a place I don't like.”
What does he think of those who criticize him for this very reason, claiming that his restaurants are nothing more than a show?
“The beauty of a restaurant for me is not just in the good food, but in everything else. This theater is a place of ceremony, of celebration. There is a magic in all this, isn't there?”
“The truth is that, more than living them, I like creating restaurants, and it’s a sort of obsession, a passion that you never recover from. Opening restaurants for me is like a drug.”
(Rodrigo Cea – El Mercurio (Chile) - GDA 02.12.2017 )
"Simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve" – Francis Mallmann
You had the opportunity to cook for the Rolling Stones. How was that experience?
"Yes, one night on the beach, in Uruguay. I lit a fire in the sand and cooked on my knees, without saying why. But I wanted to cook like that, next to a griddle, a little grill. It was really nice. I cooked for David Gilmour, for Roger Waters, who is crazy as a horse. Recently I organized Kanye West's birthday, which lasted three days. I've cooked for many musicians. Bono once asked me to take a photo together. I have a bond with him, we see each other quite often. But I never ask for photos."
What's a birthday like that lasts three days?
"I had no idea who he was. I was in New York with my daughters, they called me and they said: 'Kanye West! The most important rapper of I don't know what'. A very strange character. It was during the pandemic, three dinners for seven people. In France. I didn't want to travel on his plane, but because of Covid they couldn't bring in scheduled flights. So I had no choice, I was there, amazed, I watched him sing and dance on the plane, correcting things, repeating the same parts over and over. At a certain point he told me that, if I was tired, there were cabins with a bed. So I went to sleep."
Is provocation something essential to you?
"Provocation is necessary in every field, because it is what generates change. My latest wine is called Desobediente. If there were no rule breakers, the world would always remain the same."
Text by Martín Wain // Photo: Ignacio Coló
November 11, 2023 - La Nación Diario