IF THEY gave out Michelin stars for dessert, Pierre Herme would have collected three or more by now. But who needs an official accolade when you've already long cemented your position as the pastry world's Chosen One?
It takes a certain kind of sugar artist to see the sweet potential in an unlikely combination of tomatoes and olive oil. Yet, something in the molecular make-up of chef Herme's brain saw that you could cook tomatoes with strawberry into a naturally sweet compote, layer it on top of puff pastry topped with mascarpone cream whipped with olive oil, sprinkle some black olives, and voila - an ingenious play of sweet and savoury that may have shades of salad but is 100 per cent dessert.
Today is the last chance you have to sample this aptly named Revelation dessert at the Grand Hyatt's mezza9 restaurant, where the dessert maestro is presiding over a limited dessert run as part of the World Gourmet Summit.
He has brought to Singapore samples of desserts from current and previous collections, including the all-time favourite Ispahan - the rose-scented macaron filled with rose petal cream, raspberries and lychees. But it was difficult choosing what to bring with him, the affable chef admits almost sheepishly in an interview at the hotel's Martini Bar.
Always a leader and never a follower, the very reason Herme went into business for himself was simply because he wanted to do things the way he felt they should be done. 'I don't do things because I want to create trends. I do things the way I feel they should be done,' he says.
That has led to a host of confections that he has created year after year like a fashion designer who creates looks for different seasons. Many of them stretch the limits of one's imagination, like a foie gras creme brulee topped with stewed cranberries and chopped pears. Or a grapefruit dessert that was 10 years in the making because he could not get a ready supply of ingredients. 'It is a wasabi and yuzu gelee with grapefruit, flesh of grapefruit and mascarpone cream with wasabi,' he elaborates. It took so long because he was unable to find fresh wasabi on a daily basis, but now that he's able to get it, the grapefruit dessert is now on offer at his patisserie in Paris's Rue de Bonaparte.
Such palate-twisting combinations seem to imply that molecular gastronomy is at work here. But chef Herme is quick to remind that while molecular gastronomy has taken a hold in modern kitchens, it is something that pastry chefs - by virtue of their precision - were already practising for a long time.
However, his philosophy about molecular gastronomy is that 'while it is interesting in the way that it makes the industry progress, it is not something that the customer should taste in the finished product'. In other words, it's the taste that should prevail, not the technique used to create it. 'You don't eat technique, you eat food,' chef Herme emphasises.
While he may seem to have an avant garde approach to dessert, his own philosophy runs along the traditional route. Now that he has achieved a level of international success - he has seven stores in Tokyo with another two opening this year, a store coming up in Dubai and one in Hong Kong, plus another two in Paris to join his flagship boutique - the time has come to give back.
The protege of pastry legend Gaston Lenotre wants to do for younger pastry chefs what Lenotre did for him - impart all his knowledge without restraint to ensure that his skills are passed on to the next generation. 'Pastry chefs are artisans,' he says. 'It's very important to trust and teach, to pass on knowledge from the master to the apprentice - that is how things keep moving on.' He likens it to luxury brand Chanel, which makes it a point to buy over small, family-run businesses that specialise in craftsmanship such as embroidery - not to add to its conglomerate but to ensure that these small businesses have enough work to sustain them through to the next generation.
To do this, chef Herme joined the Paris chamber of commerce in setting up a school with two full-time teachers who conduct short classes of a few days for pastry chefs from around the world who want to upgrade their skills.
At the same time, he continues doing 'what I know' - constantly discovering new ingredients and developing new combinations of flavour. He is currently fascinated with pepper, particularly the long red Indian pepper, which he has turned into successful desserts. He finds inspiration from almost anywhere, like the time he went to dinner at a friend's place - the friend was a collector of aged balsamic vinegar and gave him a bottle of 25-year-old Modena balsamico that he turned into a Christmas macaroon with truffle.
To a certain extent, the way to Herme's heart - and mind - would have to be his stomach. While he enjoyed black pepper crab in Geylang a couple of days ago, he cites as his favourite restaurant in Paris as a husband-and-wife eatery in the 20th arrondisement 'where the wife cooks and the husband sources products and wines from different places - they are from Argentina and the wife is not formally trained but they are passionate about food and the ingredients'.
He adds: 'For them, it is not about the money but the passion. That is what it is all about - what you do with the product. If you do it with your heart, that is the most important. That is why to me that is the best restaurant in the world.'
It is that same philosophy that makes him possibly the best pastry chef in the world.
