If there ever was a living legend, well, it’s this guy…. Chef Alain Ducasse.  The DRC culinary team were this week humbled by his presence last Friday when he toured the Historic Distillery District and restaurants of the DRC.

The night before, Chefs Benallick and Kwok from Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie cooked for Ducasse at an evening at the George Brown Culinary College.

Here is what Executive Chef Paul Benallick had to say about the evening!

Last night Chef Walker, Chef Kwok and myself participated in an event at George Brown College.  This was an event to announce a partnership with Chef Ducasse’s culinary school in Paris and GBC.
In our lives there are several mentors and individuals that we look up to.  The people within our field who push the boundaries and challenge the norm.  Individuals who have made our chosen profession better and influenced how the entire world works and operates.  Chef Ducasse is one of those innovators.  With over 30 Michelin stars in his restaurants he is recognised as one of the giants of our profession.  So it was a great honour to be part of this.
I would like to share with you some photos from the evening and the food that Chef Kwok, (possibly the most innovative item of the night) and myself did with the help of our teams.
Chris did a “Chestnut stuffed profiterole with honey mascarpone and cotton candy”.  

As you could imagine the cotton candy machine was a big hit (even if we blew a fuse and it took 5 security and maintenance employees to try and figure out how to fix it!), but beyond that, the simplicity of flavours is what stood out.

On the hot side we did “Georgian Bay pickerel baked with banyuls vinegar & braised du puy lentils, with house cured pork belly”.
Both dishes were well received with many people coming back for seconds.

I would just like to thank Chef Walker for including us in this event, Chef Chris for his hard work, and my team here at Cluny for the effort in getting us ready, including our apprentice from Pure Spirits, Steven Hoang.

Happy Cooking
Paul Benallick
Executive Chef
Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie

It was a great evening, the Cluny team hit it out of the park!

So back to the Chef Ducasse visit, here are some photographs I snapped while he toured.  It’s pretty safe to say our Chefs were a little star struck, Chef JV forgot all of his French language, but pulled it together and served Chef Ducasse some fine Canadian oysters at the Pure Spirits oyster bar.

I’d like to thank first and foremost the George Brown College Centre for Culinary Arts, Dean Lorraine Trotter, Chef John Higgins and our own Corporate Chef, Andre Walker for making this happen.

– Chef