Meet The Michelin-Star Trained Chef That’s Cooking Up Montrachet’s Next Chapter
french connection
Taking his Michelin-star training and shipping it to Brisbane, Montrachet‘s head chef Clément Chauvin is putting his worldly culinary experience on full display with his new French cookbook.
Having worked under the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Chauvin took the reins at Bowen Hills’ favourite French cult-favourite Montrachet last year, but let’s just say the process was not as smooth as anticipated.
Starting from scratch
When Parisian-born, Canberra-based chef Clément Chauvin heard that French institution Montrachet had gone into voluntary liquidation, he had already been considering what his next move would be. The timing couldn’t have been better, and, concerned someone else might take over and compromise the restaurant’s 20-year legacy, he bought it.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was for all but one staff member to resign, leaving him to rebuild the restaurant from the ground up right after he had signed the contract.
Michelin moments
Born on the outskirts of Paris and having moved to Lyon at the age of 13 – the gastronomic capital of France – Chauvin remembers the moment he fell in love with food. “I was having dinner at a friend’s house, and their mum, who was a home cook, made basically Michelin-star-quality food,” he recalls.
It was a revelation for Chauvin, who, by 15, was enrolled in a three-year culinary program, determined to learn everything about ingredients, flavour, and technique. Soon after graduating and days before his 18th birthday, he began working under the lauded Anne-Sophie Pic in her two-Michelin-star restaurant, which would later regain its third star. “You can imagine, it was intense,” he says. Long hours, working from 8:30 AM to midnight, practical jokes, yelling, harsh criticism… a complete departure from the ease of student life.
“If you drop that tray, you’re dead.”
One story stands out from that first week: he was tasked with removing a tray from the oven, and when 90-degree sugar syrup spilled onto his arm, he held onto the tray until it was safely on the bench before tending to his badly blistered arm. “My sous chef was staring at me and basically said, ‘If you drop that tray, you’re dead,’” he laughs. It’s a common-enough story that you’d hear from a chef working in Europe in the Michelin-star system in the early 2000s, and Chauvin sees it as just that – a formative experience that many chefs have to go through to reach the top of their game. “Experiences like this thicken your skin,” he says. “You learn from it.”
Gordon Ramsay-refined
After a six-month stint, he returned to Lyon to refine his skills before re-entering the Michelin-star world, this time more prepared and working for Nicolas Le Bec in a two-star restaurant. A year later, Chauvin moved to London, joining Gordon Ramsay’s Michelin-starred Claridge’s in 2000, followed by another two-Michelin-star kitchen afterwards.
Seeking new experiences, his career – and a girl – led him to Sydney, where he worked at Restaurant Balzac under Matt Kemp, adjusting to Australia’s Chef-Hatted fine dining system. “Coming from Gordon Ramsay, where there is a level of luxury to get a Michelin star – waiters in suits, everything served on a tray – it was a culture shock,” he says. “This was more rustic and simplistic.”
Eventually, a wife and two children later, he found himself in Canberra and, realising there was nothing like his style of cooking in the city, he opened his own restaurant Les Bistronomes 11 years ago, and has since racked up an impressive list of accolades.
The move to Montrachet
When news of Montrachet broke, Chauvin was already searching for his next challenge. He had his hands full and, with a new team to hire and train, a menu to craft, and a legacy to live up to, he reopened the restaurant in mid-2024. For patrons unaware of its history, the transition was seamless — Montrachet had successfully retained its reputation and soul under Chauvin’s tutelage. He reflects on this chapter with genuine gratitude for how this city has embraced him: “Dan Arnold, Thierry Galichet, Javier Codina, and so many more… they welcomed me with open arms. I was overwhelmed and so impressed,” he says. True to form, Chauvin hasn’t slowed down. His latest project, Bistronomie, a French cookbook two and a half years in the making, has just been released.
“The hardest part for a chef is transferring everything in your head onto paper in a way people can understand,” he says. The result is a carefully curated collection of recipes he’s honed over years, alongside tributes to the growers, makers, and producers who help make his restaurants possible, even including a special story on Thierry Galichet, Montrachet’s founding owner.
Bistonomie
With Bistronomie, Chauvin demystifies French cuisine, simplifying classic techniques for the home cook, while bringing the flavours and finesse of Montrachet and Les Bistronomes directly into your home. Now splitting his time between Canberra and Brisbane, with Bistronomie officially on the shelves, his hope is simple: to share what keeps him falling in love with food and inspire you to do the same.
Want to cook like the big leagues? Dig into Chauvin’s Bistronomie cookbook, available for pre-order now.
Imagery: Supplied
