When new cooks come to work for me, they obviously make mistakes at the beginning or there's some messiness to the presentation. What I always say to them is: 'If you were cooking this for your mother or your girlfriend, would you make those mistakes?'

I'm open to starting restaurants anywhere as long as the produce that's readily available is high quality. For example, I'm never doing a restaurant in Shanghai because I saw the produce available there, and it's just not good. I won't do a restaurant in Moscow for the same reason.

When I used to have a show on French TV, people would ask me how my jacket stayed spotless while cooking. Your whole area has to be clean - and you have to keep it that way.

Joel Robuchon Quotes