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'MAKING A DISH IS LIKE WRAPPING A GIFT'

Fine dining is a word that is oft used in a highly 'hospitality-driven' city such as Dubai. What makes one restaurant different from the other? Let's face it, every restaurant has chairs, tables, service and serves good food.

So what makes one a fine dining restaurant and the other a simple eatery? Is it the celebrity chefs, exquisite interiors, the total ambience, the smiling faces or the food itself?

City Times talks to guest chef Tony Bilson who is creating edible magic at the Palm Grill restaurant in the InterContinental Hotel, where he is grilling a lot of the crowd favourites. We grill him for answers on the state of cuisine in general, the technology behind cooking and, yes, about fine dining too. Bilson is arguably one of the finest chefs and proponents of fine dining. He has a couple of restaurants that have topped the hospitality charts in Australia and got his name on everyone's lips. He is reported to be constantly re-inventing himself to offer diners experiences they haven't experienced before. His version of fine dining, though, is an adaptation of French and Japanese food practices in an Australian setting — people who are not exactly known for their fine dining.

How do you define fine dining?

Fine dining is going out to dine for the experience of dining, rather than to be fed. It's more than simply just eating. The best exponents of this attitude can be seen in the Japanese and the French. Japanese are very much into food design ... and made it almost into an art. They have a high cultural activity and a piece of high culture.

Are you talking about presentation of the food?

Presentation and quality of food. Display of the craft is important but doesn't mean everything should look like a wedding cake. Something can be cut perfectly and that looks simple but to do that is not that simple ... it needs a lot of experience and a lot of skill.

Why do you hang on to this 'classical' concept of food presentation in modern times?

It depends what you term as classical ... and there are so many fashions in food and most of them are media made. Some of the world’s best chefs are American but the ones I admire are mostly French. My attitude, like I said before, comes from French and Japanese influences.

What is it you like about French cuisine?

I like it because they respect the produce and they are constantly working towards making the produce better. One you've got high quality produce, then the dishes can be very simple.

But aren't Australian meat products too known for their high quality?

Ah, they can always be better. In Australia they are now breeding a Japanese breed of beef for the Australian markets, which is supposed to be very good and high quality.

How do you strive for excellence in a career that doesn't have a yardstick?

You create your own. It's the same as journalism.

How do you go about satisfying someone?

I don't expect everyone to know as much about food as I do, but I try to introduce new experiences that they are going to find pleasing. Obviously, I don't make vegetarian with beef, which is silly and disrespectful. So, I take the best vegetables and make them in such a way that highlights the beauty of the product. It's like giving a gift.

Why do you adapt French cuisine to Australian tastes, couldn't you present it in its purest form?

Australian tastes are quite different from the French, because of the culture we have... which is not very formal and a completely different environment. My food flavours are stronger, more concentrated but that's natural, and that's because of the sunlight. The more sunlight the produce gets, the stronger the flavours they produce. The closer you get to the equator, the stronger the flavours get.

You've been to many places, do you adapt the taste to the place you go to?

Absolutely. I think the food I normally prepare for the summer in Sydney is fantastic for Dubai, It’s more Mediterranean. So I use less butter and fats ... I tend to use more olive oil. The French, of course, eat a lot of vegetables.

How has the restaurant scene changed over the years?

I'll talk about myself. The type of restaurant that you work in reflects the thing you enjoy doing, which changes with the different times of your life. When I was young, I worked in Bistro, where we had a lot of artists. As we developed, I opened a restaurant called Waters’ Inn, which was very tough to get to, you had to cross the river to get there but when you got there, it was very quiet. It was set in a National Park and then there was the one which had a theatre attached to it and we were involved in a lot of shows ... contemporary dance, theatre ... a very creative place. But generally speaking, there have been a lot of technological developments in the kitchen area, which have changed the chef's job. All chefs need to change with the changing times for better presentation of their skills.

How can technology influence the way we eat food?

It sure does. For example, we have a very accurate temperature control in the oven now, so I can cook to within one degree of the temperature now. Now I know that if I cook at a low temperature, I can still be sure its going to be healthy, because if you don't cook on high enough a temperature, you get a lot of bacteria growing. When you've got a rare steak, the interior of that steak is going to be about 55 degrees, which is safe, but if it is 48 degrees it might not be. So, now I can predict everything, I don't have to cook at the high temperatures that we were used to cooking in, because when you cook at a very high temperature, it effects the texture of the food ... I find this very interesting.

How do you use this technology for delicate meats and foods?

We're doing a fish dish here, normally when you cook a fish, you get it out of the freezer at around 4 degrees and when you put in on the griller you've got to get it to around 55-60 degrees. Most cooks grill it over too much, so the fish comes out too dry. What I do now is, I put it in a combi-oven before I cook it at 55 degrees and when I actually serve it to you, it is very moist, tender and cooked. You'll wonder how I've done that.

You're famous for your poached bone marrow, how do you do it?

You make a butter bread, the marrow is taken out of the bone, sliced and cooked in salt water, just gently poached. Then we make a sauce from shallots, red bubbly, herbs and butter. It's delicious but very Japanese in its presentation. It's quite simple actually, there are only three elements. Marrow, sauce and the bread itself. I generally like to present three things in every item I make.

You are everything about fine dining, how do you explain epicureanism?

There are couple of elements to it, one has to have a certain amount of generosity to it, because, as I said before, it's like wrapping a gift. Then, you've got to have the technical skills to do it beautifully ... but you've got to have an eye of an artist to be able to put it together.

How does a simple dining experience differ from a fine dining experience?

Well, it doesn't have to, because you can have a beautiful piece of fish cook to perfection and be happy in yourself. A lot of it depends on the diner. I think what fine dining does is cooks the food into an environment for your appreciation. You can come into the best restaurant and crib about it, so everything depends on the likes of the diner. One man's simple restaurant may be another man's fine dining restaurant.

Are you doing any special dishes here?

We are doing a couple of beef dishes. We are also making a local fresh water lobster called Marron, it's very special .. I think it's the best lobster in the world.

Which is your signature dish?

I don't have a signature dish, it's like asking who your favourite child is.

Do you eat your own cooking at home?