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‘Bonjour,Maxim,’ I said, smiling.
‘Please, call me Max,’ he replied.
‘Where is everyone?’ Xavier asked, looking around the half-empty restaurant. An elderly couple were cradling their coffees in one corner, next to a tall, blond man with a gaggle of blond children eating chocolate brownies, and the other three tables had already finished and were waiting to pay the bill.
‘The weather is putting people off,’ Max said, with a shrug. ‘Perfect timing for your visit as I am not so busy, eh?’ He led us through the tartan-filled restaurant and into the kitchen where a flurry of chefs buzzed about.
‘Quiet please,’ Max called, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. ‘I would like to present to you all the excellent Xavier Lavedrine, a chef friend of mine from Paris. We worked together at Le Cinq.’ They each smiled or waved in welcome, and Xavier went pink.
‘And this is his latest protégée, from Chalet Blanchet in the village, Holly Roberts.’ They seemed less impressed as I smiled my hello. Robin to Xavier’s Batman, his affable but ultimately less interesting sidekick.
‘You can all finish up for the day. The restaurant is empty, and I don’t think we’ll have a rush with the weather as it is.’ The kitchen cleared almost before he’d finished his sentence and Max grinned warmly at us both.
‘First, a drink? What can I get you? A coffee? Beer?’
‘Espresso please,’ I said, even though I wanted a beer.
‘Deux,’ Xavier nodded, and Max called it through to the bar.
‘Thank you for having us over to teach Holly some of your tricks,’ Xavier said, slapping Max on the back. ‘You are a legend in the village. I told Holly your chocolate fondue is to die for and now she’s seen first-hand how far people travel to come and see you, I think she finally believes me.’
‘You are too kind as always, Xavier. You know me, a little of this, a pinch of that. Bringing French excellence to the masses using the local gastronomy. As you say… my latest smash hit has been the chocolate fondue. All French chocolates of course, with macarons for decoration and a type of cake for dipping.’ Max pulled out a tray of fondue vases made with choux pastry and sugar paper, each one a different colour. He fired up the hob and clanked out three small saucepans from one of the drawers, adding double cream to each.
‘Is it all edible?’ Xavier asked.
‘But of course,’ Max replied with a smile, breaking large slabs of dark, milk and white chocolate into small pieces and putting them into the individual saucepans.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ I asked, my mouth already watering at the thought of this creamy, chocolatey feast.
‘You are here to learn,non?’ Max said, pulling open the drawer once more and pointing to the saucepans. ‘We will work side by side. Copy me exactly.’
I pulled out a heap of saucepans and put them on my side of the hob, trying to catch up. Xavier watched as we worked, eyes shining. ‘We can make this back at the chalet for Luca and Genevieve,’ he said.
‘Absolutement!It is very simple of course,’ Max said, pulling out two punnets of strawberries and passing one to me. ‘It is as much in the presentation as the ingredients.’
‘All the best dishes are,’ Xavier agreed.
Max took a plump strawberry and deftly sliced it into a wafer-thin fan, sprinkling it with sugar and pepper and placing it on a tray of parchment paper. He went through the punnet as I tried to keep up, treating each strawberry with the same hushed reverence, until there was a full tray of sugared strawberries ready for crisping under the grill.
‘I do strawberries, bananas and pineapple, but you can use any fruits you wish,’ Max said, passing me a banana and repeating the process, but this time cutting the fruit into wedges for dipping.
I followed as quickly and as closely as I could.
‘That is the healthy side of the clock,’ Max said, laying the crispy sugared fruit on the plate from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. ‘Now it’s time for the naughty side.’
He pulled out some pre-made dough and handed me a lump as he turned on the fryers.
‘Donuts?’ Xavier asked.
‘Churros?’ I guessed.
‘Yes and no,’ he said with a beam. ‘I serve the fondue with madeleine-shaped donuts to bring in the French fusion element.’
He cut his dough into quarters and smoothed each piece into a plastic madeleine mould, sprinkling all four with sugar, then popping them straight into the fryer.’
‘C’est tout,’ Max said with a flourish.
‘C’est très facile,’ Xavier exclaimed.
