Profile | When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were his neighbours: French chef in Hong Kong Maxime Gilbert talks madness on the Med, Michelin stars and learning from Yannick Alléno
- After deciding to become a chef at 14, Maxime Gilbert, now at Écriture in Hong Kong, spent five years at culinary school, before heading off to work in the US
- He returned to France, where he worked with Yannick Alléno on and off, with a spell on the Cote d’Azur where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie lived three doors away
“I was born in Cognac, near Bordeaux, in the west of France. My father worked for a cognac company called Aldi. He spent six to 10 months of the year travelling to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Taipei.
“My dad was always telling me about his travels. When I was around seven years old we almost moved to Hong Kong because he spent so much time there, but a year later we moved to Bordeaux instead.
“My dad’s side of the family were musicians and photographers, while my maternal grandfather was a pied-noir [a term for French settlers in Algeria] – ‘black feet’ – living in Algeria, where my mother was born. During the Algerian revolution, they got kicked out and left with only their suitcases.
“My grandpa started again in Cognac by sweeping floors in a company and ended up becoming CEO of 2,000 employees. Even though the two families were so different, my parents loved to eat. Growing up we always had good meals, but no fancy ingredients.”
Did you go to culinary school?
“I started making cakes with my mum and by the age of 14 I’d decided to become a chef. I applied to Lycée Hôtelier de Talence, in Bordeaux, and at the time they received 500 applications, narrowed it to 300, then accepted 75. In the interview I had to wear a suit and they were very tough with me, maybe because I have a big mouth and talked a lot. I did the five-year programme.
