![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7011\/6502978167_689d18ab72_z.jpg?resize=426%2C640\" "\\"Jean-Christophe")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jean-Christophe, originally from Joinville Le Pont, France, has lived in Japan for ten years and has been pastry chef and owner of Aux Delices in Yakuin for six. Fukuoka Now met with him to talk about creating French sweets, the unique challenges and pleasures of being a chef in Japan, and introducing Japanese customers to original dessert creations.<\/p>\n
How did you become interested in becoming a pastry chef?<\/strong> What originally brought you to Japan\/Fukuoka?<\/strong> What are the unique challenges of working as a foreign chef in Japan?<\/strong> What\u2019s your opinion of French and European-style sweets in Japan? Do Japanese chefs make authentic desserts?<\/strong> What are your customers like?<\/strong> Do you incorporate any uniquely Japanese ingredients into your recipes?<\/strong> What are some of the most popular desserts at your patisserie?<\/strong> What is one successful pastry you\u2019ve made?<\/strong> What do you think of cooking challenge shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef? Would you ever consider appearing on one for pastry chefs?<\/strong> Who are some chefs you admire?<\/strong> What are some challenging aspects of being a business owner in Japan?<\/strong> What are you planning for the upcoming holiday season?<\/strong> When are your busiest seasons?<\/strong> How has your life changed since coming to Japan?<\/strong> Where do you look for inspiration?<\/strong> What are your hobbies?<\/strong> Hometown: Joinville Le Pont, France Interview and text by Alanna Schubach<\/p>\n
\nWhen I was young, in my town on the street where I was living, there was a boulangerie and patisserie and I always went in to buy a croissant. And I was interested when they were making the cakes. I went to pastry school, and I stopped [regular] school when I was fourteen, because I knew I wanted to do pastry. I just wanted to do cakes. And all the family of my stepfather, they\u2019re in the food business: bread, restaurants, cakes, and one of his brothers has a shop in Paris, close to where I was living. I went so many times there to see how he was, because he made bread and cakes. And because of this I started to like pastries.<\/p>\n
\nI met my wife in San Francisco–I was a pastry chef there and I met my wife there. She got pregnant and we decided to go to France or Japan. She said, \u201cOh, let\u2019s go to Japan,\u201d and we just came here.<\/p>\n
\nI think Japan is more difficult than other countries. I worked in France, England, and America, but in Japan, you need to have an image before you come here. If you come here by yourself, it\u2019s harder to become somebody. It takes a long time [to become established in Japan.] I\u2019ve been in Japan ten years, and my shop has been here for six years.<\/p>\n
\nI haven\u2019t been all over Japan yet, I\u2019ve just been to Tokyo and Fukuoka and Kyushu. I went to Tokyo for three days and I saw that the level is completely different from Kyushu. Tokyo is the city in the world with the most three-star Michelin restaurants. All the famous pastry shops I went to, it was competitive. Here, in Fukuoka, you don\u2019t have a lot of nice pastry shops. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s only Kyushu–I didn\u2019t go to Osaka or Kobe to see how it is, but for me Fukuoka is still late to appreciate what is nice and what is not nice [with pastries]. I have some customers who come from Tokyo to Fukuoka and they always come to my shop, and they say \u201cIf you were in Tokyo, it\u2019d be so busy.\u201d But Fukuoka–it\u2019s hard. It takes more time.<\/p>\n
\nMostly Japanese. Sometimes I have some gaijin, but not a lot. Around here, I have a lot of guys from offices who come to buy, and a lot of girls. You see that uniform and badge. A lot of moms, like 30, 40, come with their kids. I have some customers who always come.<\/p>\n
\nYes, I use a lot. But most of the products are from France, things that I know. But I try, of course, the Japanese ones before. If I find a nice ingredient, I\u2019ll use it, but mostly I use ones from France.<\/p>\n
\nWhat people like the most is the choux creme, caramel eclair, and chiffon cake. That\u2019s the top three. They\u2019re not like in other countries, to be interested [in unusual cakes]: \u201dOh, what is this? I\u2019ve never seen this cake before,\u201d and they buy right away. Japanese, they don\u2019t. They have to hear from somewhere else if it\u2019s a nice cake or not. I really have to push them, give tastings. I want to do one product that everybody loves. But it\u2019s hard to find.<\/p>\n
\nThis summer, I did cookies with brown sugar. In the middle I put ganache. It was three different ones–raspberry, bitter chocolate, and caramel. I sold a lot pre-order, it was special just for summer. But you never know. Even if you do TV–you never know if [a pastry] will work or not.<\/p>\n
\nNo. I don\u2019t like this. I did some contests in France before, and I didn\u2019t like it. They don\u2019t give an equal chance to everybody to win. I don\u2019t have time for this–you need so much time. The only contest I wish to do is only in France. Every year, you have this contest, MOF, for the best worker of the year. And when you have this title, you\u2019re good. All the best pastry chefs in France do this. They judge techniques, quality, creativity. I have a friend who won MOF and he said, you almost die when you do this, it\u2019s crazy. You prepare two years before, you work only on this. You need a lot of experience to be ready to do this kind of contest.<\/p>\n
\nPierre Herme, a French chef. He has a shop in Tokyo. I worked with him, too, in his shop in France. He came last year for Valentine\u2019s Day. For me, he\u2019s the best chef. Everything he does is crazy. In Fukuoka, Patisserie Jacques–they make three-star cakes. It\u2019s the best pastry shop, for me, in Fukuoka. [The chef] is a very nice guy, and what he does is nice. He\u2019s Japanese, but he studied in France when he was young. He just opened a new shop by Ohori Koen.<\/p>\n
\nThe system is different compared to other countries. Here, you work a lot of hours, you have only one week off a year. It\u2019s good for the owner, but no good for the people who work for him. For me, it was my first time to own something, but it was not a hard thing to do. You just have to be careful about everything you do, to manage money, your staff. It\u2019s hard to find good staff. It\u2019s rare. When you find one you have to keep them for a long time.
\nIn other places I worked before this I took care of the administration. But of course here it\u2019s more hard for me because I don\u2019t read kanji. My wife helps me with this. I speak Japanese, but I don\u2019t study Japanese. But I learn a little bit because my kids talk to me and I want to understand everything they say. I speak to them in French, but they talk to me in Japanese.<\/p>\n
\nWe start in September to be busy getting ready for Christmas. Everything is planned, we just have to make it. The most popular thing is the chiffon roll, with cream and fruit. I always try to do my own style. This year, I\u2019m making the buche de noel with apricot, almond, crunchy chocolate, apple mousse with bitter chocolate. It looks so nice, like a present–I do a ribbon on top with chocolate.<\/p>\n
\nValentine\u2019s and White Day. We start now, and until White Day we are busy. End of May, beginning of June–we can relax. Christmas is OK, but Valentine\u2019s and White Day we make the most.<\/p>\n
\nMaybe I\u2019m more relaxed. In Japan, people are calmer. I became more calmed down. I have my wife, and I have my kids–you have to relax more.<\/p>\n
\nI talk with my wife, she says I should do a product with this fruit, there\u2019s this thing that people want. I start to think about it, look at some shop where I like what they\u2019re doing, and always do my original cakes. I don\u2019t do it exactly the same as the one I saw–I always make it mine. But of course, with chefs, I like Pierre Herme, everything he does, the technique he has, the tests he does–it\u2019s crazy. I don\u2019t do it 100% French style, but I always try to satisfy my customers.\u00a0Japanese customers say, \u201cOh, if I eat pastry every day, I\u2019ll become fat!\u201d I say, \u201cOh, look at me, am I fat?\u201d I eat butter, bread, cakes, but look! I\u2019m not fat!<\/p>\n
\nWhen I\u2019m off my job, what I do is go mountain biking. This is the thing that puts my stress off. I go by myself, it\u2019s totally quiet, in nature, and it makes me feel good. I go every Monday. There\u2019s a lot of tracks in Kumamoto, Saga. If I don\u2019t do it, it\u2019s no good! I\u2019ve been doing it for five years.
\nCheckout the Aux Delices website here http:\/\/aux-delices.jp\/<\/p>\n
\nIn Japan: 10 years
\nIdentity: Pastry chef and owner, Aux Delices<\/p>\n