Kitchen-Chef: Thierry Gourdin
From: Pointe aux Sables, Mauritius

1) What is your guest’s favourite dish?
a) They like Mauritian cuisine, especially seafood. And they enjoy fresh fruit which we offer daily and according to season. The mangoes for instance, will be ripe an available shortly, followed by fresh litchis.

2) What are the most important criteria for you in the choice of ingredients for your meals?
a) We have our own providers. I look predominantly for freshness, colour, odour and taste. We don’t use artificial and pre-produced stuff; anything coming out of my kitchen is freshly made from scratch.

3) What would you like the guests to experience in your restaurant?
a) Local products prepared the local way.

4) What is the taste of Mauritius to you?
a) Palm heart, pineapple, seafood, venison and of course local fish.

5) Do you think there could be something like eco cuisine? And if yes, what would that be?
a) Of course, it is actually just what my grandmother used to cook. Local ingredients, fresh and untreated without imported goods. Bio quality is in demand today and I use bio ingredients too, whenever I can get them.

6) Can you tell us some of the spices that give Mauritian food its typical flavour?
a) Cinnamon, coriander, curcuma, cloves, cardamom.

7) If a guest asks you to recommend just any dinner, what would you recommend?
a) Palm heart and smoked marlin as entrée, followed by fresh fish like sacrechien with local vegetables such as sweet potatoes or manioc and rice. This would then be topped off with a dessert, for instance crème brûlée island style with citronella and spices.