Joël Robuchon clearly delights in confounding expectations. Who would have thought that the most Michelin-starred chef on the planet, with 25 to his name (spanning restaurants in London, Paris, Monte Carlo, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Macao), and who last month was presented with the ultimate Lifetime Achievement Award by The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants, would confess that becoming a chef was his third choice of career.

The priesthood was Robuchon’s first vocation; he entered a seminary in his home town of Poitiers, aged 12. He spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but says: “I was for ever having to cook chard in white sauce, which I hated. Thinking about it still makes me shudder.” He harboured ambitions to be an architect but the high course fees put him off, so in 1963 he took an apprenticeship cheffing at a relais in Poitiers. By the time he was 28, he was head chef of Harmony-Lafayette in Paris — a year later, he had his first Michelin star. After a stint in Japan, he returned to Paris in 1981 to set up his own restaurant, Le Jamin, which had three Michelin stars within three years. By 1990, he had been named Chef of the Century by the Gault Millau Guide.

His meteoric rise is hardly surprising — Robuchon’s desire for perfection is well known. Gordon Ramsay trained under him at Le Jamin during the 1990s, and recalls life in the kitchen as being tougher than the SAS. Michael Caines, another protégé, describes Robuchon as a “hard taskmaster”. It’s difficult to believe. He has a relaxed manner and admits to a penchant for dipping chips in tomato ketchup, a favourite ingredient, which, astonishingly, he has used in some of his most celebrated restaurant dishes.

Promoting modest ingredients to hitherto inconceivable deliciousness has long been a trademark of Robuchon’s cuisine — his transformation of mashed potato (using ratte potatoes and decadent amounts of butter and cream, with a flourish of truffle) remains his defining dish. “Although I can’t claim to have invented mash, I created a fashion for more interesting variations. Customers have been known to order it both to accompany a savoury dish and as dessert,” he says.

However, it could all have been so different. In 1996, shortly after his 50th birthday, he “retired” from Le Jamin, citing the daily strain of working at that level, and making a two-finger gesture to Michelin’s then absurdly old-fashioned standards. “I didn’t feel the star system was relevant any more, and I wanted to leave while I had the choice,” he said. “Although it turned out retirement didn’t suit my temperament.” So, he launched the first L’Atelier, of which there are now six worldwide: it was like “coming back through a very small door”.

The delicious irony is that Michelin is now more enamoured than ever with Robuchon, though he’s quick to quip that “having the most stars doesn’t necessarily mean I’m the best chef. I’ve got a lot of restaurants, too”. Tellingly, he’s still proud of L’Atelier London (currently the most exciting culinary capital in his view), and gained a second star earlier this year.

“Great food is less and less about ceremony,” Robuchon insists. “At L’Atelier, customers can eat salad with their hands if they want. Good food alone doesn’t give me pleasure, it’s the whole convivial atmosphere.” And there’s now a three-courses-for-£25 deal at lunch or pre-theatre, Robuchon’s pragmatic response to the challenges of the current economic climate.

Now 64, Robuchon is happy to talk indulgently about his four grandchildren, but is not quietening down. When he initially heard that he had received the Lifetime Achievement Award, it touched a raw nerve. “I misunderstood and thought I was being told it was time to retire properly.” He evidently has no such intention. Lately, he opened his first pure Japanese restaurant, Yoshi, at the Hôtel Metropole in Monte Carlo. Designed by the French interior architect Didier Gomez — known for working with Louis Vuitton and Ferragamo — it seems to have struck the right note as it is constantly packed, and Demi Moore has visited five times. He has no immediate plans to open more Yoshis, but wouldn’t rule it out: “It may be old-fashioned but I simply don’t believe in rushing to expand until I’ve seen how the restaurant’s properly bedded down. What interests me is working with high-quality ingredients, beautifully cooked, but reaching an even wider, more democratic audience.”

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, 13-15 West Street, WC2;020 7010 8600

joel-robuchon.com

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