HE'S MENTORED THE GREATEST CHEFS IN THE WORLD BUT HE'S SELF TAUGHT - THIS IS THE BOLD STORY OF RAYMOND BLANC

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2:22Their licensed therapists specialize in ERP, the most effective treatment for OCD. If you think you might be struggling with OCD, go to NOCD.com to book a free 15-minute call. They are here to help.

2:41Hello, everyone. My name is Jamie Lang, and this is Great Company.

2:48Hey, guys. Well, hello, everyone. Welcome back to Great Company. Welcome back. Hello, Jemima producer. Your voice just then went, hi guys. And then you went, oh no, a bit lower. Way too high. And then we came right down. And then we came right down. You are the producer. I am the host of the show. My name is Jamie. Producer Jemima PJ, presenter Jamie PJ. I, by the way, PJ and PJ. PJ squared. That's what the show will now be called. What can I tell you about me? I didn't ask. Okay, well. Tell me something about you. Oh, what's your favourite colour? Turquoise. What's your favourite colour? Pink.

3:24What kind of pink? All of them. You like all the pinks? Yeah. Do you know what colour my bedroom is? Skin colour pink. Nice. That's a calming colour. I blend in when I'm on a Zoom. Just a floating eye. Do you hide in your room occasionally? When people come in? Just against the wall, yeah. Hey, listen. Yeah. I'm really excited for today's episode. Are you? Yes. Because this is someone who is like, he was my safe space. at university. Who are we talking about, Jeremy? We're talking about Raymond Blanc. Yeah. Why did you say... Did you... What, you met him? You went to university with him? I didn't meet him.

4:03He... I used to come back from university from lectures or whatever it was. I used to go to the local Sainsbury's, get food, come back and watch his TV show on the laptop while eating the food. It was like my favourite moment. It made me feel relaxed and calm and chilled and all those different things. There's something about cooking shows I think that does for a lot of people. It's really calming. It was just brilliant. So now to finally have this absolute legend coming into the studio to talk to us, it's really amazing. He really is a legend. And he's so French. So French. And lots of people probably don't know this, but the way that we reach out to our guests, we do it over email.

4:36I will reach out over social media. I reached out over social media to Raymond. I got a reply straight away. Really? Straight away. Saying he'd love to do it. Really? Which is amazing. So it was a real, this is a real sort of pinch me moment to have the legend Raymond Blanc on our podcast. I'm excited to see you being so like, I mean, every guest Jamie, as you can probably imagine, is very excited by. But this one feels like it's a little bit different because like it feels like child Jamie. It's so exciting. What do we think he's going to be? Chefs can sometimes be quite, they're very creative chefs.

5:14So maybe they can be a bit ADHD, a little bit like me. Sometimes they're a bit wild in lots of different ways. I think also, I think it'd be interesting to talk to him about like intenseness. Like I think to be a chef, you don't, you know, like the hours that you're working are the mealtime hours. Like they're really unsociable hours to be working. And the kitchens can be very like hot, intense places. Like you're working to time constantly and it's an intense space to be. so I'm really fascinated to find out a little bit more about like the type of character like to have built like and that like that's my perception of and anytime I've ever worked in like pubs and stuff the kitchens have always been like a real hectic space but also full of like wild characters who are like love love the thrill it's a bit it's like an adrenaline filled space and also Raymond is one of these people who have trained so many incredible chefs from Marco Pierre White to Heston Blumenthal.

6:07Like he has trained over 30 Michelin star chefs or something crazy like that. He's a proper legend in this sort of cuisine space. But he's not trained. He is not trained. That is mad. He's also French. Yes. Even though he's lived here for 40 years in the UK. Should we say, come on, Raymond, leave the accent. Stop pretending you're French still. I mean to have lived in the UK for like 40 years and still have like a really strong French accent. I love it. That's like something in your bones. Anyway, we're very excited for this. So before we start the show, remember, you can let us know what you think of the show by getting in touch over email.

6:41Greatcompany at jamppoproductions.co.uk or you can slide into our DMs on social media at Great Company Podcast. And if you haven't subscribed to the show, please do because it does us huge wonders. Also, can I just say, I'm in those inboxes and every single message I love. Yeah, Jemima really does love. I will read all of them. So here we go. You ready for this? Yes. Okay, enjoy this episode. I can't wait. of great company with Raymond Blanc. My name is Raymond Blanc and I'm in fantastic company.

7:16When I was at university and I used to finish my lectures or finish work or whatever it was, my safe space at university was watching your programme and I would watch it every day when I came back from university. I promise you. So you're telling me you are my hero. Yeah, yeah. I'm your hero. You're my hero. I am your hero. Okay. I can see how it's going to finish. We're all going to love each other very, very much. That's the idea. Yeah, of course. Your accent is still very strong. It's very strange because, and I don't even understand it myself, I remember way back 20 years ago my English was better than now so I don't know exactly what's happening now my French accent is so strong I'm trying to reclaim my French accent and I don't understand why and I hope that during this interview you understand a few words that what I'm talking about okay yeah but your English is very good yeah but I did now that a very strong French accent it's not for marketing reason okay nothing to do with marketing or no because we all know a French language is a French accent is a so girls go oh yeah and the boys too as well so so no it's just happened I don't know exactly my French my French is pretty good I think, yes, I've lived a little bit.

8:51I've lived a lot of 50 years in Great Britain, and only 25 years in France. You've understood absolutely zero. Absolutely zero. It sounded good. What was your English like when you arrived in the UK? Atrocious. Atrocious. And I remember my first trip in the UK. And when I first came in England, I decided to test first-hand British gastronomy. And I took an English ferry. And I ordered, I remember, the only thing I could understand on the menu was fish and chips. So, sir, please, I would like fish and chips. And he understood. I was very proud of myself. So then the chips came, the fish and chips came in about.

9:41One minute, it was unbelievable how fast it was. And I could smell it 10 feet away. And I started to cough because there was so much vinegar. So much vinegar. Then, to my horror, when I saw the plate in front of me, the fish was rectangular. And I've never seen a rectangular fish in my life. When I was fishing, there's a head, there's a tail. But here, it was rectangular. The chips were gray and horrible. Oh, my God. I knew I was about to enter in a country which would be very different from the one I'd known before. And it was really a frightening time, especially when you reach Dover, the White Cliffs.

10:23Yeah, the White Cliffs, yeah. And your English, absolutely non-existent because I did eight years of German. Yeah. Okay, because Europe always saw Germany is going to run the whole world in terms of language. Yeah. Because the economy was strong. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so my English was very, very poor because it was my second language, my third language, French, German, and then English. So nobody could understand a word. Actually, when I first came, truly, so I want to have a quick look in Great Britain. I loved it very, very much. I remember always when I came to Great Britain the first time because I wanted to see London.

11:04I wanted to get acquainted with Great Britain. and I spent all my money in about 10 days. I had no money. And I really felt, how am I going to go back to France? And then something marvelous happened. Some young kids came to me. They saw I was really troubled. You were sleeping on the streets, weren't you, for two days? For two days, yeah, I had no money. I just spent it all in England, you know, in clubs and so on, and having fun and I realized I didn't have any more cash. And these kids came to me, these English kids. They were about my age and they saw my disarroi. I was void. I said, look, what's wrong with you?

11:48We can help you. And you know what? They took me in their digs. Did they really? Their student digs, yeah. They saw and they raised money. We had parties like, we had such, I mean, it was such an act of kindness and love and that really warm your heart okay and we had such a good time and I see them occasionally you know because I kept their addresses and they raised the money for me to go back to France so it was really quite exceptional and very beautiful that's amazing because how old were you then what age there I was 19 the first time have you always been an adventurer have you always been because that's quite an adventurous thing to do just get on the ferry go to France I mean go to London and to see it and experience it, then spend all your money, be on the street.

12:36It feels like you were a bit of an explorer. I didn't travel very much because obviously my family was a working class family. There was not much money. My papa built his own house with his own hands. That's amazing. Okay, so the garden was a huge space which would grow the food for the whole family. So there was not too much travel. But basically what made me come in England actually is a very fascinating moment in my life. It changed my life completely. I decided to find my passion. And I first became a nurse. I like the idea of becoming a nurse. But I was in the leukemia department, and in a year, I saw 12 young people dying.

13:20And I couldn't deal with it. I really couldn't deal with it. What does it make you feel? You feel... I saw at least 12 young people dying. And my work was, of course, helping the nurse because you have to learn all the whole craft, the whole knowledge. And my job was really to empty the pots, move the patients away, and I could see these young kids. And of course, as soon as this kid would have had a few hair growing up, he thought he was reprieved. So he would go back home and then come back, you know, and died a few months after. So I saw at least 12 young people dying. And that's why I've got such huge admiration.

14:02okay, for these nurses and these people who give their life. There's so much empathy, so much love. What I didn't like, on the other hand, was the Catholic matrons, okay, and they called me a few times in the cupboard with the young nurses, you know, so that's a, well, you need a bit of a side up, you know. When you see so much misery on one hand, you need to compensate. You need to, there needs to be the juxtaposition to the other side. Those matrons were frightening, okay, really frightening. Anyway, so that's why I stopped anyway. How scary were they? Yes, and then I decided, okay, I was so lucky.

14:40Because when I decided to be a chef, I was about 20, nearly 20. And I saw an extraordinary restaurant, a terrace of a restaurant, in full August, in my own city, Besançon, Place Victor Hugo. And it was beautiful. It was, you know, the trees were bristling. It was a bomb evening. It was a beautiful moment. Lovers holding hands and saying, I love you forever encore. You know, the waiters, basically, all dressed in purple, Bordeaux jacket, silver epaulettes. It was balletic. The matre d 'hôtel in black ties, carving, flambing the capsules, carving the sea bass, cutting the beautiful trolley, which had about 70 different trees.

15:28it was heavenly in that beautiful task and i said that's it i know my life my life is going to be i want to be a chef so i don't want to be the waiter i want to be the chef who's going to create this beautiful food but life as we all know never happens the way we want to and what happened is that the day after i asked an interview with a boss was a an old guy with a gray suit gray eyes gray everything okay but an old boy we've done it all and i told him with huge passion that would be the greatest chefs in the world you said that oh yeah i would be the best i would be the best you must take me you must take me i will be the best that's that's good confidence to have yes yeah it's good confidence but basically uh he didn't see it that way so effectively he didn't give me a job as a chef he gave me a job as a cleaner so on that day i saw i said thank you very much.

16:24You've got to start somewhere after all. And I started the cleaner and I became the best cleaner in no time. There was these huge 18th century mirrors and I would go on a ladder with my paper and my vinegar and I would shine them until there was not a single smear. The toilets were immaculate. The floor was shining. It was like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles. And I was loved because I was a good cleaner. Nobody had to clean up behind me. I was loved by everyone okay by all my team okay the team my superiors and so on then after i became a washer up i nearly lost my hands because there was so much harsh comicals no yeah and no gloves so i stopped that and i became a glass washer up the best glass washer up and there was called a huge bracket and i cut the package by half i learned a technique of cleaning the glass okay and so the glass were clean the sommelier loved me the boss loved me because I cut down the breakage by half okay and meanwhile I would taste every single wine not to get drunk because the drunk chef is not too good yeah okay just to taste the wine and in six months I knew all my Pinot Noir from my Gamay oh yes no Raymond there's no one I knew it from tasting sorry hold on a minute there's so much to unpack here hold on a second so you learnt to understand wine by tasting what you would call like the dregs of the glasses.

17:52Yeah, yeah. And that's how you learned what the good wine... And I didn't drink it to get drunk. It was just tasting the wines. And I would read at night as well. All night I would read all the great classics about wine, about food, food love, food history, food gastronomy, food regions. So I was completely immersed in this world of food. Okay. And yes, in six months I knew most, not all, but most of my the great classics, okay, ones and at night, and then I would cook for my friends at night as well until 2 or 3 o 'clock in the morning. My life was completely taken away by that love of food. And food, I didn't see food just, oh my little belly, all I earn is for you.

18:38That's one part of it. But I always connected food with people. I connected food with an environment, with a design, with Of course, people matter always the most. Okay. And that was part of it. That was what I just learned was part of it, to be the best cleaner, the best washer-up, the best glass washer-up. Then I became a waiter. And I became, of course, guess what? The best waiter. Can you say it? The best waiter. And I remember because I learned all the carvings, all the flambing and so on. And I did great. And you remember good people who have helped you in your life. You had a great manager there, a great maître d 'hôtel, Jean-Pierre, amazing man.

19:25And he helped me. And he gave me the right books to read, you know, and he was helping me in my techniques and so on. It was really wonderful. But what was less wonderful, that in that kitchen, there was a giant with a very bad temper. It was a chef, the executive chef. And he was a two-meter tall man with a mustache which was brissel. his eyes was and I saw him thumping a few coming right down to the floor so it was quite violent it was really quite frightening actually and I decided really to tell him basically that his sauces were a bit too heavy chefs can we lighten them up a little bit with a bit of sabayon can we use different spices what about lime leaves a bit of ginger a bit of smoke and I wanted to create a contact but I did obviously the wrong way and one day he took a copepon a kilogram to copepon and full as always his eyes darkened his moustache bristled and full force just put it on my face that means out ambulance came in broken jaw and two teeth out it was out and there's a great thing there's always a good thing you know bad you know when something bad happened to you I'm sure you most of us will agree there's something comes out Something happened.

20:45And so I was in hospital for about a month and a half. The boss came to see me. He told me, oh, can you tell the chef he cannot cook? The chef is a creative part of the house. He put a roof over my head. He said this when you were in hospital. He brings the money. And of course, I had wire all around my face. So it was a monologue and I couldn't respond to him because he was... But he said to me, young man, I saw you and you have something special. I can tell you. and I'm a good judge of character and you will go very far in your life. Wow. And so on that day, what he did, I lost my job. I lost my job.

21:24A lot of confidence. And then the worst part of it, I was exiled to Great Britain. So I didn't come like Napoleon on a white horse trotting about, you know, or I came with a lot of humility with my little suitcase. But, I knew this man never broke the idea that I'm going to touch excellence. And that was always my end in my life, to touch excellence. And that's what I always prompt young people to be curious, to find their passion. Because if you find your passion, like you have found yours. I know. Like these guys here, cameraman, sound person. Okay. It's a passion. It's a passion. And if you find your passion, you're a very lucky person.

22:08Because you're going to make so many people happy.

22:14I'll give you a recipe, okay? My mom, for example, a steak, three ingredients, four ingredients. Steak, salt, pepper, water. No, come on. And a tiny bit of butter. That's it. Yeah, that's it. And you have the best three-star Michelin family food. Please do it. No way. I will give you, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Are you serious? That's it. Do look at me, please. I look at you. You're serious. Am I not serious? I'm not serious. And I give the recipe very simply. So you take two steaks or three steaks, whatever, about eight ounces or as a soil lawn or rump or whatever you decide. Okay. Pound fry, butter, let the butter form.

23:02Only 10 grams per person. No richness. 10 grams maximum. Okay. And you melt it down. then then you brown the batter lightly what's happening why is it browning why the batter is browning tell me well because it's you're heating it up and so yes but why is it browning because it's what's it called I know what's happening to it it's refining what is it I'm not a chef Raymond you have to tell me but you told me you love food at the very beginning and now you cannot even tell me what's happening in the batter it's I know the word but I can't get it's a kazane of the batter the solid the particles of the butter the whey of the butter so you've got 96 % fat and you've got 4 % of solids which is the whey of the milk and that browns with the heat at 142 degrees if you really want to know and then brown hazelnut color and you can actually smell it and that is the right time so you season your steak, salt, pepper and then make sure you take the steak out at least two hours out of the fridge before, so it has got to come at high temperature, and then you lay it on this foaming batter.

24:17Okay, and you can hear that gorgeous song of the sizzling and the smell of the browning batter. And then the Maillard reaction, where there's a slight browning, and you are in steak heaven. And then you brown it just for medium-raised, three minutes on one side, then turn it around, heat a little bit more heat, because you put a cold surface on the heat, and then three more minutes there on the side, so it's beautiful browning on both sides, and deglaze with water. And what's happening? That's what's exciting. What's happening? Fat and butter don't mix. You see the butter. Fat and water don't mix.

25:01You will see the fat will be at the top. But when you create heat, you create an emulsion. The heat creates an emulsion. It completely fuses and homogenizes the butter, the forming butter and the water into one, into the most extraordinary juice that you will love me for it forever. Because it was the best steak of your life. It was the simplest. Can I? I'll give you the recipe. Please give me the recipe. Please, please. Do you think chefs have to be quite intense and quite mad people? No. No? We've got to change that completely. Really? And that I would like to make a very important point. Because I've seen so much violence in kitchens.

25:49Yeah. Because I've seen so many terrible programs of chefs completely breaking down a young person in front of camera. And you have millions of morons watching these terrible programs, which undermine that kid, which undermine the principle of teaching, which undermine our industry. These people have done so much damage to our industry. You, as a parent, would you send your kid in that environment? Tell me. No, probably not. Exactly. Exactly. so Manoir we have worked for 40 years at that probably besides the training we have created an environment which is one of the very best in UK first we have 53 % of women amazing ok in patisserie 90 % and it's not about women against men it's boring yeah no no it's creating an environment that is equal which is equal an environment which supports young people where there's no fear whatsoever.

26:56It's all about learning, growing, working as a team, sharing our knowledge. As soon as you know something, Mon Petit, pass it on, pass it on. Yeah, share it, share it. That enriches you as a manager, okay, and then you pass it on to somebody else so you create a chain of a, you know, so, so, so, so that, we have created an environment and that took 40 years. and thank you for my lovely Luke Salbi who is working with me as executive director so he understands my vision he understands the values and together we have now created you know, four days a week 44 hours a week three days off one day to crush, to relax to let go and two days to be with your family.

27:41If you see my kitchen, calm, calm is there a problem, mon petit? Just go take 10 minutes, take one day whatever come back oh never do i want that never do i want to see that never never never since it's um is i want to create an i want to help to create an industry where you will send your kids to us because our industry is extraordinary it's made of luxury but not a toxic luxury no it's a luxury which is about organic values we've got 11 gardens soon to be 14 with a gardening school, Raymond Blanc Gardening School, Raymond Blanc Cookies School, the first gardening school in Europe. It's a place which is constantly pass on knowledge, empower young people, grow them.

28:30And that's what I... And I have a team now. It's not my vision anymore. It is my team owns the vision as much as I do. And that's your success. Yeah, because it's... That's your success. What you're doing, Raymond, is you're fostering joy from the start of the journey to the plate. So it's joy from the very beginning from your team who then create the joy and then they bring it to the plate and then everything is just joy. It's not toxic in any way. Absolutely. So you're about, no, you don't need all this stress, this violence. You don't need it. These horrible words, you know, which completely, I always remember, always remember, that moment when I decided to start cross training.

29:17It was maybe 86. And I saw a young chef insulting a young housekeeper who was passing by. Bad. That young chef didn't know I was there. And I took him. Mon petit, come here. First, you're going to apologize to that young lady straight away. Straight away. Now. Okay? So he was. So he came. He went to apologize. Okay. So come back, mon petit. Okay. So tomorrow, you're going to work with that young lady in the housekeeping, and you're going to do the whole day with her. Okay? You're going to work the whole day with her. We chef, we chef, no? He was really very coy and so on. Ahmed Chu, he had 10 bedrooms to be made, and lift the mattresses and turn them around.

30:06Every room is like a maidish. Everyone is detailed, his artwork is totally different. So that young man, when I show you how he came out, okay, his back was like a normal man. He was bending over because his back was so sore. And he worked with that young lady that he had insulted. Wow. And he realized the attention to detail, the hard work. And respect. And the respect. My dick is not worse than your migraine. That's why, I mean, we created... Wait, that's brilliant. We have created so much cross-training so people can respect the other skills. As much as your content, skills, as much as PR, marketing, HR, you know, maintenance, food, sommeliers, chefs, managers, we must be a team.

30:53And that's what creates a team, a bond which is so powerful, which then the guests feel all that extraordinary energy. Because they can feel the energy. Of course.

31:11the amazing thing is that you were you had no training and you've had no training you're completely self-taught and you've held two michelin-style restaurant for over 30 years 41 sorry my mistake 45 because we got i must tell you 45 yeah but the brain that that is and you have never been taught. So before we get into that, my question is, do you think, this brings me back to some natural, do you think formal training, do you think being trained is important? Or do you think that learning on the job is far more educational? Because it feels like you learn as you grow. Can you be trained into becoming the best?

31:57It's a very good question because I think if you have the best mantra, I think it's important if you have the best mentor who truly is a thoughtful, reflective mentor which takes you by the hand. And it is often better. Because it takes the best part of 15 years. How long did it take you to do your job? Long time. 10 to 15 years. Voilà. A chef, a good chef. Never mind a Michelin star chef. Minimum 10 years to 17 years. Really? Yeah. because there's so much. There's patisserie to learn. There's millions of techniques that you have, hundreds of thousands of techniques you have to learn. Did you ever get any prejudice for not having trained?

32:46I'll come back to your question because you're right. It's a very good question, an important one. And I have mixed feelings. I'll tell you why. Because I miss a mentor. I miss a good mentor because there's some terrible mentors, you know? Yeah. people who don't have the skill to pass on knowledge, you know, or do it with such an autocratic way, hard way, you know. And a good mentor has always empathy, has got emotional intelligence, has got care, you know. He wants that young person to grow. And this is winning. It's when you see you growing. That's what I love about teaching. and we talked if we didn't have any 50 Michelin star chefs would they have none and dozens of great sommeliers great GM and so on great housekeepers top gardeners all over the world it's exciting because you've taught Pierre Weitz and Heston Blumenthal I can give you a whole list of them I mean you really have you've taught all these incredible people amazing chefs over 30 Michelin star chefs it's been the most beautiful and that maybe if you ask me what is because you don't ask me what is my my greatest proud proud yeah greatest achievement achievement is to have taught as a self-taught chef to have passed on so much to these young people who are now these great British chefs who are now among the best in the world that is amazing and that's my To me, that's my being.

34:27And I've got so many protégés, so many extraordinary. Wherever I go, to Hong Kong, China, you know, Southeast Asia, France. I meet them. They're everywhere. It's been a nursery. It's like a nursery. No less. It grows young talent. Why? Because you have values. And I've got to talk to my mom because what my mom gave me, my papa gave me some of the values. and my mom gave you many other sorts of values. Food is an act of love. Organic values, always. My papa would never use chemicals. Sustainability is crucially important in all what we do. That means beyond the basic things, which is hygiene, sustainability management of waste, we have zero landfill.

35:15If you see the systems we have, I'm the president of Sustainable Resistant Association in Goethe-Betel. I'm a VP of Garden Organic with King Charles. So really involved in all these ultra important things which are going to define what kind of world we live in tomorrow. Can I ask this? You spoke about your biggest achievements, which is a beautiful thing about helping so many chefs. What would you say is your biggest failures in your life or your biggest failure? Yeah. to be humble? No, no, no. I've learned to be humble. And you taught me humility. It took me a long time. It took me about 40 years to be humble.

36:01Really? Yes. And it took me 40 years to be able to laugh about myself. And I do thank you. And I will do a public statement that I do thank you, my British friends, to have given me a little bit of their English humor. A little bit, not very much, because Frenchmen don't have humor, really. So to make fun of yourself. Yeah, it's hard, you know. It's very hard to laugh about yourself. Ask a Frenchman to laugh about himself. We take ourselves very seriously. Yes, you do. Okay, so it's difficult, you know. So I'm doing my best. But I'm learning. Now, when we play at rugby, okay, we normally win, okay.

36:38But if we lose, if we lose, I will take your hand. And I say, you have beaten us. Well, bravo. Bravo, mon ami. Bravo, mon ami. So I know how to equally, okay, it's an interview. You are interviewing me. But in a normal conversation, I'm the best listener. If you ask me to listen. And that took me years because the French speak at the same time as they listen. Yes. In the radio, you can look at TV program. In family home, you've got seven people. Everyone talk at the same time. So it's a complete mess. It's a complete mess. Nobody understands what the other is saying. and it's I get really seriously pissed off annoyed because it's a cacophony it's such a huge toyboy of nose where you know imagine you can talk to me as you listen it's impossible so that I'm proud I can listen I'm a very good listener that was the hardest thing actually to laugh about myself was hard as well.

37:48Being a chef is a really tough industry. It's full of stress. It's full of late nights. You said to me before we started that you went to bed at 2 a.m. last night and then you're up here doing this. That creates, sometimes it can create health issues. And you've had your health issues, which is, am I right in saying, Rami, you've had two strokes? Is that fair to say? Yeah, it was mostly a bad marriage and also working 16, 18 hours a day. But when you imagine, you want to open my first business in 1977. England was in a complete disarray. Yeah. Businesses were crushing. All the big industries were crushing.

38:38There was a call, you know, when Arthur Skagal was running around the place, you know, and there was strikes. It was three days a week. So when you, and I decided, let's open a French restaurant. That's what England needs, definitely. So, and then worse moment, to open a French restaurant. Okay. And everyone was striking. So that was, yes, really tough. And I was working 18 hours. I was learning my craft. 18 hours? Oh yes, every day. Every day. Every day, every day. Six days a week. And Sunday you would have off, one day off. And you would prepare the orders for the day after. You were aching everywhere.

39:17You looked like a 50-year-old man, although you were 25. Wow. And I never cooked before. Again, you go back into a commercial. No. I cooked little bits and pieces for my friends, but I was not a cook. I was not a cook. But you could taste and you could smell. Well, in one year, we got to stomp. So what I did was basically, when I bought this tiny little cat saison, I had no money, three and a half thousand pounds, I can tell you. We opened three and a half thousand pounds on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the city, between the ladies' underwear and Oxfam. And the ladies' underwear had nothing to do with agent provocateur, okay?

39:55I can tell you. There was lots of wool, okay? And then Oxfam, Oxfam, okay? Yeah. So all was wrong, yet I painted the feathers bleu, blanc, rouge. So you knew it was a French restaurant. Wow. Okay. And then the kitchen was no isolation. So winter, it was freezing. Summer, it was 40, 50 degrees. Okay. My oven was a 1920 oven with no bottom. And that's where we won our star Michelin. No. No, you didn't. And I had four apprentices. I remember their name. My name, Mark Peregrine, who is still my director after 48 years. He's still my director of the Raymond Blanc Cooker School. Wow. Go and see that guy.

40:41He's full of humor. He's still interested. He's still alive. He's still exciting to pass on knowledge. You got the Michelin star in that restaurant? Yeah, the first year. No, not the first year. Late 77, one year and a half. We got the star Michelin. And I never cooked before. And on the cheap, you know, it was a cheap road. and two star Mishnah in 81, three years after. That is unbelievable. It is an extraordinary story, yes. But it's extraordinary. And I was not working for Mishnah Stars. I'm not a mercenary, no. But can I also ask this because you have no training. I'm guessing you don't know how to run a restaurant.

41:23You open up a restaurant in that place. Surely every other sort of chef and other people in the country were laughing at you thinking this isn't going to work. This is no way going to work. There must have been a lot of doubters. I just cooked. You didn't care? No noise. I was not working for Mishnah Stars. I was working to touch my own level of excellence with the knowledge that I had. And of course, I realized I had lots of fault lines. So I didn't understand sometimes why my souffle were leaking, were not rising as high as possible. my my paper was leaking a little bit and i had to understand so i bought all the books about science but i couldn't understand nothing because they were written by scientists for scientists you didn't get it so so i went to symposium all across the country but these people i couldn't understand because they were talking to each other but not two chefs and then one day in oxford the oxford symposium all the world-class biocomist physicians were giving their treaty yeah and one old man spoke professor curty and professor curty bow ties small guy a big stomach standing up i've never seen a stomach like that because nobody stomach knows it's a force of anthropo can't But his stomach was like that.

42:51Because he's Hungarian, so he's meeting too much foie gras, maybe, and his muscle, his stomach became a muscle. Yeah, it was just one big muscle. But what he said, what he said, every word understood. And that was one of the happiest moments of my life, because I knew this man would help me. And I came, when he came, he finished every word. He was able to demystify every chemical word into something I could understand. And then when he came down, I said, please, sir, can you become my mentor? I said, oh, Monsieur Blanc, you know what? In 30 years of my life, you are the first chef. You asked me for chemistry to help you a little bit to understand what's happening in your food.

43:37and happily I will come to you. Wow. And we did a TV program together. He would bicycle from Oxford. He was 85. He would bicycle to Oxford, which is 20 miles, right down to the manoir, and we cooked together. That is amazing. Some jam at night, some jam during the day. That is amazing. And he helped me so much. So I was the first chef to get involved in molecular gastronomy. Bread, bread, flour, water. yeast salt and you can make hundreds of breads thousands of different variations and when you understand the chemical process of making bread it's magical it's absolutely magical first the fermentation of the yeast which is transported by moisture and heat so you can see it's that piece of dough which starts swelling, growing you know, then you break it down.

44:38So you create a second fermentation so the bubbles of carbon monoxide get bigger and bigger. So the bread gives flavor. Of course that gives flavor to the bread. It's magic. And I used to hate chemistry. Chemistry was my pet head. Then he loved it. Connected with food I completely loved it. And I could explain to my young chefs what was happening. So I was the first chef and that's to embrace molecular gastronomy to write a book to do a tv program and please look at it on youtube yeah you'll be amazed i can't i will you are going to become such an extraordinary and then they asked me to be that champion world class worldwide and i said no why i tell you what i said no because for me, food, ha, is a perfect ensemble of guests, people, friends, children around the table.

45:42It's the craftsman who did that glass. The man who made the wine. The vigneron who made the wine. The guy who did the tablecloth. The flowers. The flower lady who made the beautiful flowers. It's an ensemble of total perfection. Completely. And nutrition is part of this ensemble. So is physics and so is science. But if you take any of these, if you take science out of this perfect ensemble, you create a fashion. Because that belongs there. And the chef must learn a bit of chemistry so he can control better, you know, his food. Okay, so, and I said no. That's why I'll be always a poor chef because I could have been a multi, multi-billionaire.

46:37And I said no. And I'm not sorry, I said no. And actually, Esten Blumenthal, my wonderful Esten, oh, what a wonderful man, what a wonderful man, what a bright man, what a curious man. and so much better at chemistry than I am. So he took it over and made it an extraordinary success. Amazing. And he created this wonderful restaurant, The Fat Duck, a restaurant which still thrives today. Amazing.

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49:13The idea for excellence and always trying to achieve excellence doesn't matter what you do. In Japanese culture, it doesn't matter what you do. If you are a doctor, if you're an artist, if you're a chef, if you're cleaning the trash from the streets, whatever it is, you do it to your best ability always. And you obviously had that from very young, but who drove that into you? My father, my father, as a working class, he was highly qualified. He was working on the watch, on measuring the hardness of metal, so with microscopes and so on. And he ended up, he started as a lowly working class and he graduated to be really the top of his department, running 18 people.

50:04So, and he built his own house. And there's a lovely story. I will tell you because it was a sports war. France, like England, had lost a lot of young people who died, millions of them. So General de Gaulle, you remember him? General de Gaulle, come on. More explain, maybe I do. He was a guy who fought, who helped to create the resistance in France. He was in England and General de Gaulle became the leader in France for about 20 years. Yes, okay. great guy, very tall man, and he rose his arm and he said, France need children. So my papa said, yes, sir, I will give you I will give you seven. I will give you.

50:49See, that's the way you didn't exist. Young woman didn't exist. I will give you seven children to you and to France, General. So then he went to see my mom and he said, and he said, I am going to give General de Gaulle and France seven children and my mom looked at him said no more it's five with my meat really and then he went on to build a house wow for seven rooms okay with double plot with his bare hands it took him eight years yes it took him eight hours to and he still sees house is still beautiful and really that means hard working i mean he would work during the factory for the eight hours or so or nine hours.

51:36And you saw this? And then he would, at night, he would build his house on weekends. And you saw this growing up? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I saw it. Of course I saw it. I was about seven years of age. Okay, and I would help him as well, okay, tying the little bits and pieces. So, it was amazing. So that taught you that hard work? When you see a young generation now, and I'm not attacking, of course, a young generation, but these people were so hardworking. And he gave me these strong work ethics and details, details details and and willpower you know resilience all these things he gave me because my god he was a mighty man do you think a lot of things in life is based on talent or hard work or a mixture of two talent um lucky for some who have it but without of that person talent will never be enough talent will never be enough without all the other elements curiosity you know constantly searching for better if i do a dish for example and if that dish if i don't care for it if i don't love that dish enough that dish will die in front of me because i didn't give it the love i didn't give it the interest i didn't do i'm it's constantly reinventing ourself life is all about reinventing ourselves.

52:57And if you dish a food or if you design a room, it's always look at it, you know, constantly with critical. You've got to be totally self-critical. And I also happen to be a micro-idiot. Okay, that means the details and the detail, most of them make such a difference. These tiny little details that you add. To me, excellence, you know, if you take this, to me, this excellence is, These fine layers, you know, fine, insignificant. They're so sunny, they're so thin, they're so light, they fly. And you pile them up lovingly, kindly, with all of your intelligence, with all of your curiosity, with all of your love, and you pile them up upon each other slowly, lovingly, and eventually you have density.

53:50And you can touch excellence for a few seconds, and then you're a lucky man. So that is excellent for me. I know exactly what you mean there. I realized in my life now that it's those constant 1 % that you improve it. Less. Constant. It adds up slowly by slowly. And at the beginning, you don't notice it. And it feels like a waste of time. It feels like pointless. It feels like, why am I doing this? Why am I making sure that that 1 %? but slowly over time, that excellence that you're adding on top of each other actually builds to something much greater than anyone else. And that's what you have to do.

54:30Can I ask a question? Did your parents have a happy marriage? Generally.

54:41Look, look, big problem here. My father was a communist atheist. He joined the resistance at 18. Not in 1944, in 1941. Okay? He was captured by the Germans, sent in Germany, he escaped. He came back at the resistance to kill as many Germans as he could. Yeah. Okay, so tough guy. Tough guy. With principles. Okay? And he was an atheist as well. My mother was a guilty Catholic. Wow. So he's an atheist. He's an atheist and a Catholic coming together. So a communist atheist and a Catholic and a guilty Catholic. that means the first my mom I loved her I love her I still love her I mean she she played such a huge role in my life the first thing she would look is a newspaper and she would look at the arbitraries

55:37oh god she couldn't have it but she loved people she loved people and she gave me also that love that kindness that empathy that respect both my father and my mom gave me so many extraordinary values which I pass on to my young team. That's what I do. It's amazing to be brought up with parents who probably were tough at times, for sure. Hard times. Yeah, because Raymond, there is, without a doubt, there's no chance your excellence, because you are one of the sort of godfathers within the world of cuisine. Someone's making me a mafia guy. I didn't ring my gun here. you can't you can't have excellence that you have without having had an upbringing with toughness i'm sure with love and things like that but it must have been really tough at times as well because you would have to be excellent in order to make your parents proud yes it was tough because uh again because we're working class people my papa built his own house he built a huge garden half of the size of the manoir at saison really it was not gardens like in England with flowers and so on.

56:45It was a proper garden, okay, which would, and that garden would, with about 70 different vegetables. And this garden would feed the whole family during the whole year. So it was really, so I used to hate the garden. Because you watch my friends were playing football. I was in the bloody garden, you know. But learning, learning. Removing the, oh yes. I'll tell you a story. Okay. I was about eight or nine. It was raining. My father decided to do the garden. And when you decide, you just go, oui, papa, you don't mess around, you know. And then in the middle, so he started to do stuff in the garden.

57:31And then suddenly he took a big clump of shiny earth. And he, so I was, I remember I was very tiny. so I he just presents his big clump of shiny earth with living things in it and said Ramon look at it okay so we have so I look at the earth no then smell it oh started to vary a bit you know so I smell the earth was quite a lot of acidity you know very acid actually and then test it so I look at him say Papa test it so he took a big clump of earth and he put it in my mouth have you ever eaten earth in your life never you should okay you should definitely because you're going to learn something what do you learn but first the first reaction it sucks the life out of my mouth all the time it was gritty it was horrible then you've got all these aromatics acid bitter sour sweet.

58:34It was quite incredible. These successions of extraordinary lengthy flavors. But the acidity was so strong and I realized that a handful of earth holds as many micro-ingredients as the whole population in the world. So that earth is that important to our life, okay? To growing food and so on. And of course when he said, look at it, I understand now. So I told him, okay, Papa, I understand why you make me look at us because according if it's slightly reddish there's iron into it so a lot of vegetables will not be able to grow if it's sticky and and grey okay it's clay and clay no root vegetables will grow I understand all that but why on earth did you make me taste that's when I was 14 there to confront my papa that means 7 years after and he said why on earth did you make me taste it?

59:35And he said to me, that was a joke. That was understood that my father had a sense of humor, you know.

59:45But he taught me so much. Varieties. When we, you know, for example, if my mom sent me to get potatoes, it would never get potatoes. It would get mirat. I know it was risole. Maris Pippes, you know, where French fries, French fries, day great. Binges was pure potato. Charlotte was salad. Every variety had such a depth of knowledge of the soul, of the seasonality, of the varietal. It would never grow a carrot. It would do 12 of 10 different carrots to find the best. That's what I do at Le Manoir. Always. So there was such a deep knowledge which was given to me. And of course, my mom who transforms his food.

1:00:34And I remember I used to hate this garden because when I saw it was all over, the vegetables were grown. You had to pick them up, harvest them, tons of peas to pod, beans to top and tail and give it to your mom who would preserve these beautiful vegetables. And I remember a treasured moment in my life. Still, I can smell it. I can see it. I can feel it. It's going in the cellar. You had hundreds of preserves, big, big, big glasses, small ones, jams and everything. You had a big barrel of wine, cheap wine, okay? And it would always drip on the beaten earth. And then you have all the layered vegetables off the floor, you know?

1:01:22So you had the potatoes, you had the turnips, you had the carrots, you had the beetroot, you had all the vegetables covered with a jute, you know? And then you had a single dangling light, which barely diffused a tiny little bit of light, so not for the vegetable not to germinate. And then I would sit on the top of the stairs, getting used to the smell and the smell. It was olfactive. It was a still life like I've never seen in my life. You know, it was such a deep connection with all the work I had done as well, what my father had done. And I would sit on the top of the stairs and watch, you know, when your eyes got used to the darkness.

1:02:05It was such a beautiful moment. And the mushrooms would be hanged, drying, okay, on a thread. There was so much beauty. And you could get the smell. So that's the kind of life I had. Very rural. Up to 14, we were still in the forest. And we were the biggest forest in Europe. So up to 14, I was still in the forest, hunting and gathering. Okay, and memories like you've never seen. And I remember once, two particular haunts, which I love. It was one haunting mushroom by smell. No, like a truffle pig. Like a neophyllic, that was not a pig, you know. A little piggy, okay. And you, like these neophyllic men, you know.

1:02:53And these mushrooms are potigri. Potigri. And you have to go, the wind is through here, and you always go through pines. And you were haunting by smell. So you were moving from five meters at a time, and suddenly the perfume of these mushrooms were extraordinarily as good as truffle. You could smell that, you could smell it. And then you would move, oh yes, oh yes, my sense of smell. I've been tested by perfumers. I mean, I put myself through crazy. Actually, I did a TV program many years ago. I was the first chef to embrace molecular gastronomy. And also I had a hard COVID where I nearly passed away.

1:03:37We're going to talk about all of this, yeah. No, thank God. The Lord has spared me and I still have my sense of smell, maybe less 5 % or 6.5%. But your smell is... It is still there, yeah. And taste as well. So I'm lucky. So you could smell these mushrooms and then... Yes, and you could smell them. And then you would go to what's this smell, which came stronger and stronger. And you move all the moss and you had these mushrooms hiding. Imagine the beauty.

1:04:10Can I also... We mentioned before, but when you got COVID as well, because that must have been pretty scary because you were talking about your sense of smell and things like that. And then you got long COVID. and from what I understand, you nearly, it was pretty serious. It was close. It was close to dying. And then you've spoken about how you also, it made you lose your memory for a bit. Yeah, I remember particularly a moment when I was in Paddington Street, you know, by the cafe. and suddenly I was I knew where I was but I couldn't connect with anything else not the place where I was I have a flat 200 yards away I didn't know how to get there I couldn't connect with my phone I existed I felt myself I could see the street I could see the name of the street yes I couldn't connect anything with nothing and it was frightening it lasted about two hours and I didn't dare to ask people.

1:05:18I was so lost, so lost. So that happened quite a number of times and that was really, really scary. Then I had all sorts of panic attacks as a long COVID. It was really a horrible moment. But then everything came back together. Oh, Raymond, I'm so sorry. But the worst part of COVID and the best part... I love how you're an optimist in these situations. Yeah, like the divorce was really a way to learn about yourself, a way to grow up as a man proper, you know, and put things into perspectives. I'm not saying I'm a realist. I will never be a realist. I will always be an idealist and a romantic. But I put quite a number of elements of realism into my life, which makes me hopefully a better man than I used to be.

1:06:11But what was the best and worst about COVID? So the worst is, of course, COVID when suddenly your lungs are 70 % completely burnt and then you cough, you cannot breathe and that's worse and that came so fast. okay so and then i got this this bad covid really i mean and i and i decided the consultant wanted to put me in the other room do you know what the other room is they put tubes in your lungs they put you asleep and you're unconscious and you are for people die and then the reminder And I've got terrible complications. So I said, no. If I die, I want to know. Okay? And please give me a chance.

1:07:00And I had to fight against him because he wanted to almost bring me by force in this other room where you have every chance of dying and you are unconscious, you know? Yeah. Thank you. So I said, no. I want to fight. Okay? Let me fight. And the problem, of course, I had little oxygen in my body. And you had the mask. Couldn't breathe. It's horrible. Horrible. The mask is over your face. and they push oxygen into your lungs and you cannot breathe and you cannot sleep. But I decided to fight it and also to learn how to meditate. And I learned, I escaped through meditation. Wow. And I tried for 20 years to meditate and it was a total disaster because I went in all sorts of great meditation places.

1:07:49I was starting to think of carrots, of new ideas, new dishes, new bedroom, new gardens, no swirls of things. So I could never meditate. But here in that hospital where I knew I felt that meditating could help me to focus completely on breathing and my love one. But breathing first, surviving. And your breathing is all scattered. It's hurt when you breathe. And after seven days, one of the nurses, I remember, that very consultant who wanted to put me in the other room, looked at my chart and she started to dance around the bed. She was so happy. She said my oxygen levels were coming back. That means I was being repaired somehow.

1:08:43And then the nurses were extraordinary. the people who bought the food you know remember I was a former nurse for a year so I appreciate it I've never been and I must say for these nurses and these nurses, male and female and these doctors what they gave was extraordinary because they were so focused they were they were working 15 hours a day their kids were being kept somewhere by our families there was such a spirit of togetherness as a nation and they worked so hard they were so kind so supportive i had one actually was singing opera with a mask really yes and i did uh so i managed to escape okay uh so i stayed one month and a half something like that in this thing but then after work come back worries come back you go back into it and you forget oh god I miss I miss that ability you know to so I sang the nurse and we did create a beautiful party for them with about 200 nurses and doctors at the manoir to say thank you thank you a million thank you well I those people are extraordinarily amazing I want to say thank you to them as well because it would be thank god you're here

1:10:13This has been a real honour for me to talk to you. Just because, firstly, like I said, you were my safe space growing up. And you're just such an amazing storyteller. And what I love so much, especially when you talk to people, you talk about like, you know, you have this just obsession with it. And you can feel that on you. The obsession with food, the obsession with life, the obsession with finding things out and discovering and building and developing. And that's just infectious. What I love the most is people, my team or my guests. Without an extraordinary team who doesn't own your vision, you are, you don't exist.

1:10:57So there's always this element of humility and respect that you must have. And I thank my team who have given me so much, so, so much. I love them all, absolutely. Oh, Raymond, that's so amazing. We end our conversation with eight quickfire questions. It's very quick. Are you ready for this? This is quickfire. Here we go. What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up? It's when cats and dogs, I never understood what it means.

1:11:32The French say, come vashki peace, like a cow pee, and then you really understand it's raining. I mean, Katzen, the Ratishtam are here. That's good. Can you explain that to me? I don't know either. You don't know? I don't know. Best compliment anyone's ever given you? It was a young kid, and he just had eaten a vanilla ice cream. He was about five, and he said, Mais c 'est blanc. Your vanilla ice cream is so much better than my mum. Yeah. Because we actually welcome children. Equally, there was other. I receive, obviously, every day you receive compliments, and I take them on behalf of my team because they do most of the work.

1:12:19Okay. But you receive so many, many compliments. What scares you most about yourself? No, I don't scare myself very much. Truly, I don't. Maybe anxiety. maybe this element of anxiety I see little I was talking to a CEO not too long ago he said Raymond that's our difference me I think of the big thing and that's my anxiety you think of the micro little things that's our differences I can relate to that when was the last time you cried? I cried a lot because uh not a lot but uh oh god how could i say it um we see a film can you cry situation yeah it's good to cry yeah absolutely or i think men's first i could say to you men don't cry by the way but of course they cry and thank god so there's lots of situations seeing a film uh saying something uh happening a young person there was suddenly a friend who gets really very healed a good friend of mine for example I've got a 91 year old guy who has been with me 40 years he used to be my best patissier Claude Restois and now this man is so loud and he just told me I had enough I want to go he was my best friend.

1:13:56So yeah, they are attached. Definitely touches you because those people mean something to you. What's something you can't let go of? Maybe I've got, you know, there's a disease. Can you tell me that disease? You know, when you always move from one thing to another. Oh, ADHD. I think, I think. I've got that. You've got that. I've got that. But I've not been diagnosed. I'm not saying I've got it. I was going to say halfway through, I think you have a touch of ADHD. And my Natalia, she's a realist, she's a doctor and a master nutritionist. And she saw that straight away into me. You've got ADHD, whatever it's called.

1:14:42So yes, it's constantly moving from one thing to another. Because there's so many things to think of. So many things, I know. There's so many ideas, and they're all piling up, and they're all messed up together and then you have to disentangle them and you forget half of them. It's like playing that game. There's an English game called Whack-A-Mole where you have to hit the things as they pop up. Yeah, yeah. It's like that. Here we are. What's your guilty pleasure? I don't like guilt to mix guilt with pleasure. I like to take pleasure as it comes, full on. What turns you off? rudeness people being rude people being careless what turns you on?

1:15:24somebody smiling at me and I smile back it's a good one I like that I don't know if it's a good one but I think it's but of course you've got to be careful to whom you're smiling you have to be careful it's a dangerous world but yes somebody's smiling at you I think and you smile back it's wow it's amazing I'm with you and Raymond I'm with you Last one, apart from your restaurants, best place to eat in the world? There are many great restaurants across the world, but in England, it's extraordinary what's happening. There's an extraordinary revolution, not a French revolution, but a British revolution, which connects now with the true values of gastronomy.

1:16:06My farmer, my fishmonger, close to home. And I know one chef who I believe is really one of the very best chefs in the world now. It's called Mark Berkshaw, a bit north of England. And he's absolutely amazing. So go and see his restaurant, shake him up. It's refined. There's depth of flavor. You feel well as well. It's not heavy. You don't fall off your chair with a crease de foie. You know, there's a creative force which touches simplicity, a complicated simplicity. There's so many, so much beauty in this world. Amazing. So I think there's English as well. Mark Berkshaw, I remember. Raymond Blanc, thank you so much.

1:16:56This has been inspiring. This has been everything. Oh, and there's another one.

1:17:01He's my chef, definitely, Luke Salbi. he trained with me for six years at Le Manoir then set up his own business he warned about everything and he came back at Le Manoir as an executor and this young man is going to be a great talent for UK love that and we love to see that you're so reductive why would you say one when you could say actually ten listen I'm sorry we can talk about loads Raymond I just want to say a big thank you thank you for being you thank you for being inspiring you're amazing thank you for coming on great company you've been amazing thank you Thank you. Oh, you're very jealous.

1:17:40Wow, what a man. Was that everything you wanted it to be? I mean, he's a storyteller. He's wonderful because he kind of goes in all different directions. You try and bring him back to a point and he goes off another one. He's basically cooking. When he talks, that's probably how he cooks. All over the place, doing lots of different things. Also, if you are listening, oh, you're listening if you're hearing me and you, but if you go and check out the YouTube, you Raymond had a piece of paper and he kept writing down like so halfway through Jamie would ask a question and he'd just write it down what was that piece of paper I think the piece of paper was this I think that he because his brain works in certain ways he writes down a point that he wants to come back to because he's going off and different things then he'll see it and come back to that point me and you should do that I know because he goes on these tangents and then he's like what was I talking about I was talking about flowers and that's what I think he was doing I I love that.

1:18:28Yeah, he was doing that. He is, he said it at the end. He said that he was, he thinks he's pretty ADHD. I can probably confirm that Raymond Blanc is ADHD. Yeah, and also after the recording, we got him to do a little bit of a taste test of Jamie's candy kit and sweets. Yes, and he said they should be more sour. And he also brought a plate and was disgusted that Jamie had offered him to eat out of the bag. Was like, put them on a plate. He was like, that's classy. He was amazing. We want to say a huge thank you for everyone who's listening as always. We love the fact that you guys listened to this episode.

1:18:56you can get in touch with us at greatcompanypodcast on Instagram or you can send us an email greatcompany at jampopproductions.co.uk and of course we're on YouTube as well if you want to go and check us out there Indeed Also he was so French So French So French But that's what we love We love it Okay guys Listen we're going to see you next week for another episode of Great Company

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