Paul Pairet Explained

Paul Pairet
Birth Date:29 June 1964
Birth Place:Perpignan, France
Education:Hotel school
Ratings:Michelin stars
Style:French cuisine
avant-garde
Restaurants:Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet
Mr & Mrs Bund
Polux by Paul Pairet

Paul Pairet (born 29 June 1964) is a French chef. He is the founder-partner and chef de cuisine of restaurants Mr & Mrs Bund, Ultraviolet, and cafe Polux, all located in Shanghai, China. His cuisine is often described as avant-garde.

Biography

Pairet was born in Perpignan and studied at a hotel school in Toulouse after a scientific study background. A chef/instructor who demonstrated diffusion and biochemical reactions in cooking impressed him as a student, and he decided to become a chef.[1]

Restaurants

Pairet was first noticed by the press while helming Café Mosaic in Paris in 1998. Over the next 15 years, he also worked in Istanbul, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Jakarta. In 2005, he settled in Shanghai to open Jade on 36, an avant-garde restaurant in the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel until he left in 2008.[2]

In April 2009, he opened Mr & Mrs Bund in the Bund 18 building, where he has been lauded for his witty takes on bistro classics. The restaurant was ranked the 7th best in Asia[3] and the 43rd best in the world in 2013,[4] making it the first restaurant in Mainland China to be ranked on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. In 2014: No. 11 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,[5] and No. 76 in the world's list.[6] In 2015: No. 21 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.[7] In 2016: No. 28 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.[8] Since 2016, it has become one of the members of Collège Culinaire de France.

In February 2010, Pairet presented his idea for a restaurant of one table that used technology to offer an immersive, multi-sensory dining experience in public for the first time, at the OFF5 Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville, France.[9] [10] [11] [12]

After planning and development since 1996, this idea became the restaurant Ultraviolet, which opened in Shanghai in an undisclosed location in May 2012. The restaurant's unique concept is based on Pairet's theory of “psycho-taste”, or the psychology and emotions associated with food. He believes that our perception of taste can be altered through engaging different senses and emotional triggers as we eat, and has been quoted as saying “Food is ultimately about emotion, and emotion goes beyond taste.”[13]

Ultraviolet was ranked the 8th best restaurant in Asia by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list in both 2013 and 2014,[14] [15] and the 60th best restaurant in the world in 2013,[16] and the 58th in 2014.[17] In 2015: No. 3 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,[18] and No. 24 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[19] In 2016: No. 7 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,[20] and No. 42 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[21] In 2017: No. 8 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,[22] and No. 41 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[23] In 2018: No. 8 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and winner of Art of Hospitality Award,[24] [25] and No. 24 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[26] In 2019: No. 6 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,[27] and No. 48 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[28]

On 21 September 2017, the second edition of Michelin Guide Shanghai released the result for 2018, and Ultraviolet received three Michelin stars, which still remain now.[29] Since October 2014, Ultraviolet has been one of the members of Les Grandes Tables du Monde.[30] In 2018, it was one of world's greatest places released by Time.[31]

In February 2017, Pairet launched a carvery The Chop Chop Club with Unïco Shanghai. Pairet featured whole pieces of meat and fish for mains, carved and served at the peak of the dishes – "released based on a nightly schedule, the names and times of which are displayed with prices and available portions on a digital screen with live updates of 'buy now' and 'sold out' statuses."[32] with "some larger pieces to be shared between different, unconnected tables"[33] or to be served as whole for an entire table. It was closed due to the closure of Unïco Shanghai in September 2018.

In mid-March 2019, Pairet opened an all-day dining, French cafe called Polux, in Xintiandi Shanghai.[34] [35]

Appearance and activities

Pairet was one of the chef juries for the S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.[36] [37]

Pairet appeared as a guest judge in the 5th episode of Top Chef France Season 10 which was released on 6 March 2019. The contestants were given a challenge to make a dish based on Pairet's Twin Concept, a mirror dish called "Tomato Mozza And Again" which has been served at Ultraviolet. He went on to become one of the jury members in Season 11,[38] [39] [40] and Season 12.

Awards and honors

Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants,[41] [42] a list affiliated with the World's 50 Best Restaurants; Chefs' Choice Award in 2016.[43] [44] [45]

The 100 Chefs by Le Chef magazine since 2015[46] [47] [48]

Restaurateur of the Year 2018, Les Grandes Tables Du Monde[49] [50] [51]

The 50 most influential French people in the world in 2019 by Vanity Fair France.[52]

Notes and References

  1. News: Shanghai eatery pairs food, wine, light, sound. 22 October 2013. Reuters. 10 July 2012.
  2. News: Kahn. Howie. Shanghai Surprise. 22 October 2013. The New York Times. 25 August 2013.
  3. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2013. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. 28 November 2014.
  4. Book: The World's 50 Best Restaurants Guide 2013. April 2013. Tim Brooke-Webb / William Reed Business Media Ltd. 20.
  5. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2014. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 13 June 2015.
  6. Web site: The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2014: 51-100. BigHospitality. 17 May 2017.
  7. Web site: Archive - 2015 List. www.theworlds50best.com. 2017-05-17.
  8. Web site: Archive - 2016 List. www.theworlds50best.com. 2017-05-17.
  9. Web site: Omnivore Food Festival Deauville 2010 - Le Film. Vimeo. 29 November 2014.
  10. Web site: Pham. Anne-Laure. Plats trompe-l'oeil chez Omnivore (24 February 2010). L'Express Styles. 29 November 2014.
  11. Web site: Billecart. Raphaël. La jeune cuisine sur les planches (26 February 2010). Le Figaro Madame. 29 November 2014. 2014-09-18.
  12. Web site: About the Chef. 22 October 2013.
  13. News: Fabris-Shi. Amy. Shanghai: Ne Plus Ultra. 22 October 2013. Destinasian. 16 October 2012.
  14. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2013. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 13 June 2015.
  15. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2014. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 13 June 2015.
  16. Book: The World's 50 Best Restaurants Guide 2013. April 2013. Tim Brooke-Webb, William Reed Business Media Ltd. 89.
  17. Web site: The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2014: 51-100. BigHospitality. 17 May 2017.
  18. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2015. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 30 June 2016.
  19. Web site: The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2015. The World's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 30 June 2016.
  20. Web site: Archive - 2016 List. www.theworlds50best.com. 2017-05-17.
  21. Web site: Past List 2016. www.theworlds50best.com. 2017-05-17.
  22. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2017: 1-50. www.theworlds50best.com. 2018-03-27.
  23. Web site: 1-50 The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2017. www.theworlds50best.com. 2018-07-28.
  24. Web site: Art of Hospitality Award 2018. ASIA EN. 2018-04-06.
  25. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2018. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. 2019-06-29.
  26. Web site: The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2018. The World's 50 Best Restaurants. 2019-06-29.
  27. Web site: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2019. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. 2019-06-29.
  28. Web site: The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2019. The World's 50 Best Restaurants. en. 2019-06-29.
  29. Web site: Ultraviolet - Shanghai : a Michelin Guide restaurant. www.viamichelin.com. en. 2017-05-17.
  30. Web site: ULTRAVIOLET BY PAUL PAIRET. Les Grandes Tables du Monde. en-US. 2019-12-14.
  31. Ultraviolet: The World's 100 Greatest Places of 2018. Time. en-us. 2019-12-14.
  32. Web site: The Chop Chop Club by Paul Pairet. City Weekend. en. 2017-05-17.
  33. News: The Chop Chop Club by Paul Pairet. Fine Dining Lovers. 2017-05-17. en.
  34. Web site: Paul Pairet ouvre un nouveau restaurant à Shangai baptisé Polux. Fine Dining Lovers. fr. 2019-06-29.
  35. Web site: Nouvelle table - Polux by Paul Pairet - La tradition culinaire française au coeur de Shanghai. 2019-03-30. Food & Sens. fr-FR. 2019-06-29.
  36. Web site: Paul Pairet: "Bring Emotion to the Dinner". S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2019-2020. en. 2019-12-14.
  37. Web site: S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2019-2020. S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2019-2020. en. 2019-12-14.
  38. Web site: "Top Chef" : Paul Pairet remplace Jean-François Piège sur M6. à 12h41. Par Michaël ZoltobrodaLe 3 septembre 2019. À 12h42. Modifié Le 3 Septembre 2019. 2019-09-03. leparisien.fr. fr-FR. 2019-12-14.
  39. Web site: Paul Pairet, chef 3 étoiles : "On ne refuse pas d'être juré à Top Chef !". 2019-03-07. LExpress.fr. fr. 2019-12-14.
  40. Web site: "Top Chef" : Qui est Paul Pairet, le remplaçant de Jean-François Piège ?. Match. Paris. parismatch.com. fr. 2019-12-14.
  41. Book: Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2013. February 2013. Tim Brooke-Webb / William Reed Business Media. 8–9.
  42. Web site: 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award - Asia - Paul Pairet. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. William Reed Business Media Ltd. 13 June 2015.
  43. Web site: Chefs' Choice Award 2018, sponsored by Estrella Damm. ASIA EN. 2018-04-06.
  44. Web site: Is this the world's most innovative restaurant?. Stout. Kristie Lu. 2016-08-25. CNN Travel. en. 2019-12-14.
  45. Web site: Shanghai Wins Three Spots & A Chef's Choice Award On Asia's 50 Best Restaurants List SmartShanghai. www.smartshanghai.com. en. 2019-12-14.
  46. Web site: Arnaud Donckele en tête du classement «Les 100 Chefs» 2019. Le Chef. fr-FR. 2019-12-14.
  47. Web site: 100 Best Chefs in The World 2019 - See The Full List. www.finedininglovers.com. en. 2019-12-14.
  48. Web site: 100 Best chefs in the world 2020 - see the full list. www.finedininglovers.com. en. 2019-12-14.
  49. Web site: Les prix 2018. 2018-10-18. Les Grandes Tables du Monde. en-US. 2019-12-14.
  50. 2018-10-11 . Les Grandes Tables du Monde décernent leurs prix d'excellence . Neo Restauration . fr.
  51. Web site: Et le meilleur restaurateur du monde est.... 2018-10-09. Site-LeVif-FR. 2019-12-14.
  52. Les 50 Français les plus influents du monde en 2019. Fair. Vanity. France. Condé Nast Digital. 2019-11-20. Vanity Fair. fr. 2019-12-14.