Follow the water

Humans consist of 70% water. In the case of Joël Antunes – “Ikarus” guest chef in July – this is most probably Volvic, because he was born in 1961 close to the world-renowned mineral water spring.

And just as the water flows to anywhere in the world, so, too, has Joël Antunes visited numerous continents and cities. He first came into contact with cooking in his grandmother’s kitchen in southern France. At the age of 14 he started his apprenticeship at the two-star Belle Meuniere restaurant in Royat, after which his path led him straight to Paris and two more top restaurants, the Leyoden and the Duquesnoy. This was followed by the Hotel Negresco in Nice, where he prepared pastry for the celebrated Yves Thuries. He subsequently worked for the legendary Paul Bocuse in Lyon as a chef poissonier before being drawn to Marc Meneau in St-Père-en-Vézelay. His final stop in France was the restaurant of the Troisgros brothers in Roanne, where he was sous-chef.

In 1987 he took a great leap, both in terms of distance and also on the career ladder. At 26, Joël Antunes succeeded the great Jean-Georges Vongerichten at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. This position also took him to Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan as a consultant.

In 1991 he was called to London in pursuit of his desire to open his own restaurant, the Saveur. His skill ensured that the Guide Michelin awarded the Saveur one star in 1994, and the Evening Standard gave it the title of the best restaurant in Great Britain twice in succession.

In 1997 the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta was looking for a new chef for its restaurant The Dining Room. With the highest recommendations from Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse, the choice fell unanimously on Joël Antunes. He exceeded all expectations, not only by carrying on the Dining Room tradition of being awarded five Mobil stars every year. In a short time, Antunes pocketed the five AAA diamonds and thus ran the only restaurant in the South Eastern USA to hold both awards.

In Atlanta, Antunes again opened a restaurant of his own, named after himself. At the JOËL, Antunes imaginatively fuses Far Eastern influences with Mediterranean and French cuisine, seasoned with the generosity of the American South. So he creates oysters with cauliflower tapenade, gazpacho with tomato sorbet and grilled lobster with deep-fried vermicelli and mangetouts in Thai sauce. His favourite ingredients from Asia are kaffir lime leaves, galangal root ginger, soy sauce and tamarinds, which he uses for example for a filo pastry dessert with cream and pineapple.

Antunes sets great store by simple ingredients which are also the best, and by the fact that his dishes remain affordable. This is a new exciting challenge for him, after many years of purely elite cooking. For despite his glittering life, Antunes never really set much store by the star chef hype: “I don’t wear a tie and I don’t beat about the bush. I am a cook, and as such I follow my passion – in the kitchen”. Which he does to great success. The JOËL has just been honoured by receiving five stars from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The discipline which Antunes learned in France enables him to set limits, which is especially important for someone who has learned and lived across many national boundaries. Because what would water be, if it didn’t get right to the roots of things?