Romain Fornell: “The restaurants I have opened in Paris are the Louis Vuitton of gastronomy: good and popular”

I am interviewing chef Romain Fornell (Toulouse, 1976) at the Hermanos Torres restaurant, hours before we dine on turbot and sole from the Neptura aquaculture brand. He is a chef of calm appearance despite the volume of work he has. He directs the Goût Rouge group, which has restaurants in Barcelona especially (the latest he has opened is Casa Tejada), and four more in Paris. Fornell arrived in Barcelona in the late 90s to work as a chef at the now-defunct Maison du Languedoc Roussillon. In 2003 he opened the restaurant Caelis, which is today located within the Hotel Ohla Barcelona and which obtained a Michelin star.How did it happen that you are the chef of four restaurants in Paris? In the last interview I did with you, you told me that you didn’t want to take any plane to go to work.

— This was my idea, but one day I met Benjamin Patou at the Hostal de la Gavina, in S’Agaró, who has a house nearby, and he made me the offer. Patou was having dinner at the restaurant Candlelight, at the inn, and he liked the cuisine we made there, based on classic French recipes, with Catalan produce. There is also a piano. I told him no.

If you told him no, what happened?

— He insisted. He told me he was offering me an apartment in Paris so I wouldn’t have to look for accommodation when I went there. He took me there to show me the restaurants he wanted me to manage, introduced me to his partner, Antoine Arnault, son of the owner of Christian Dior, and I said yes. We now have Café Lapérouse open – which is 260 years old this year and was the first three-star restaurant in Paris – Lafayette and Prunier.

I have been there, and the feeling is as if the world were ending by the way people were enjoying themselves.

— I don’t want to compare the restaurants in Barcelona with those in Paris, but in Paris going to a restaurant is a big deal. People dress impeccably, they go to eat because it’s a moment of celebration, of joy. At Lapérouse there is a piano and, therefore, live music.

You have four. Do you plan to open more?

— Yes, two more, also in the city of Paris. They are Auberge Bressane and Relais Louis XIII.

The decoration of restaurants also contributes to the joy of living we are talking about.

— It’s all thanks to Lázaro Rosa-Violán, who in Barcelona designed Boca Grande, El Nacional. He renovated them, he decorated them with a special soul. Afterwards, Benjamin and Antoine created the stage, wrote the script, and I did the kitchen, which is a classic French kitchen.

A successful classic French cuisine.

— In Paris, people want to eat this cuisine, both locals and foreigners who go there. It is a classic French cuisine that is staged, the dishes are finished in front of the customers. Each of the restaurants employs one hundred and fifty people per service. It is very high volume.

At Café Lapérouse, many of the great wines and champagnes were served in glasses.

— Yes, it has one of the best wine cellars in Paris. It also has the largest collection of wines from Château d’Yquem, owned by Antoine. That’s why he serves it by the glass. It also has champagnes: Dom Pérignon, Krug, Ruinart, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot. Of wines, in addition to Château d’Yquem, it also has Château Cheval Blanc and more. It is one of the most important fortunes in France.

Café Lapérouse has also appeared in movies.

— Woody Allen filmed one of the scenes for the movie Midnight in Paris, in 2011. Furthermore, a book has now been published explaining why the mirrors on the windows are scratched: it was how men demonstrated that they were giving diamonds to their lovers. They passed them over the glass so they could verify they were good. Moreover, it is said that from the basement there is a door that leads to the National Assembly, which is behind.

In all the restaurants I checked that the pasta dishes were very important.

— They are there because I have created a menu with the intention that it will please everyone. So, we make pasta with caviar, pasta with freshly grated truffle. Depending on the season, we change the product with which we accompany it. I have realized that people like simplicity, and that is how they then return again and again. I would tell you that the restaurants I have opened in Paris are the Louis Vuitton of gastronomy: good and popular.

At Le Prunier, they told me that former president Nicolas Sarkozy usually goes there to eat.

— Famous people pass by, yes. Important families come to us, to Prunier, because it is located in a very good neighborhood, the sixteenth arrondissement, and also because the owners are friends of these families. At Prunier, we have a very famous singer as a client, who eats a kilo of caviar with potato chips.

I’m asking you now about Catalan restaurants. You have just started the season in S’Agaró.

— We are at a very good point of maturity. Since we opened, we have had very good expectations. I have been here for twelve years, and I have a very good team, with the chefs Oriol Fernández and Jose Pulido, who is the executive chef. The restaurant is very Parisian because the founding owner was inspired by the best restaurants in France and Switzerland.

The last restaurant you opened in Barcelona is Casa Tejada, and I have verified that you have managed to attract a crowd that fills the street.

— I am very happy. With Casa Tejada I have managed for Café Turó to also work. We are working like never before.

There are also pasta dishes, and a lot of produce.

— Barcelona is the number one city when we talk about quality-price ratio. It is an unbeatable city with this tandem, and that’s why I think people should value much more the effort we restaurateurs make, using excellent products, and the adjusted prices. In fact, the prices of restaurants in Paris without a Michelin star are what restaurants here with stars have. There is an economic difference, because in Paris the purchasing power is very high, but Barcelona has quality-price.

Do you have any new restaurant projects in Barcelona?

— No, in Barcelona, no. Only the two closest to Paris.

Romain, what do you still have to achieve professionally?

— Nothing more. I want to have health, enjoy my three fantastic children, my family, keep what I have and enjoy what I have.