The Closure of Paul Bocuse in Melbourne

Update: Paul Bocuse Melbourne closed on the 29/11/1997

Melbourne has been the most far flung culinary outpost of Paul Bocuse’s great gastronomic empire.

And the “emperor” himself is visiting to officiate at the final celebrations for the Bocuse restaurant next week. This visit has been planned for some time. What wasn’t planned was chef Philippe Mouchel ’s announcement that he was leaving the kitchens of Bocuse at the end of the month and, on Sunday, the press release that the “Paul Bocuse” restaurant would be closed before the end of the year.

And what is still not planned is when exactly the restaurant will close. It seems bizarre that the release should have been issued whilst this is still unresolved. It came from Daimaru Australia Managing Director, Brian Beirne, as he was leaving for a week’s holiday. Neither he nor Philippe Mouchel could be contacted yesterday.

However, Duncan Steele, Divisional Merchandising Manager - Food & Restaurants for Daimaru, expressed reasonable confidence that “Paul Bocuse” would be trading until Christmas. He says that bookings are still being taken but the decision depends on whether they believe that the restaurant will be able to maintain standards (after Mouchel goes) throughout December.

Mr Steele did explain that Daimaru had the option to ask Bocuse to provide them with another French chef but they have decided not to continue with a format which has not really been working.

“Revenue has not been what we budgeted for over the last 2-3 years and, with Philippe Mouchel going, it gave us a chance to review our position.”

Philippe himself decided to review his own position with the announcement in October that he was leaving to start his own bistro in the city. When I spoke to him in June, it was clear that he was tired of the battle. The constant search for good staff, the declining interest in classic French cuisine and the inroads made into remaining trade by the opening of the Casino.

He also blamed the media, “ the media decides what people should eat, now I think it’s more going to the casual food, maybe, what they call Australian food”.

Supporters of Phillipe’s fine classical food, and there are a legion of them in the industry, say it was not the style of the food but the position of the restaurant. People don’t like going to a shopping centre to dine. It’s a tribute to Philippe and to the standards he has maintained that the restaurant has survived for six years.

So where does this leave Melbourne?

For many years at “Two Faces” Hermann Schneider led the fine dining field in Melbourne and throughout Australia. He says unequivocably that “it was the wrong venue. Had Philippe been in a better environment, he could have survived.”

“It seems that Melbourne can’t really support even a handful of restaurants of that style anymore. It’s a different expectancy now from people in dining”.Hermann believes that it’s becoming impossible to maintain professionalism, to run a proper staff. Personally I can’t see privately owned restaurants being able to maintain the level of staff required for fine dining. Only the major hotels and a concern such as Daimaru can support brigades with any real depth.

It’s not just in the kitchen but in the front of house that so many resources and so much attention is needed. There simply comes a point where the passion to excel and to keep pushing yourself and the staff beyond normal physical limits without any potential of increased financial reward no longer seems worthwhile. It never makes commercial sense but you continue to do it, until one day it dawns - that’s enough! Sadly, for Melbourne that day has dawned for a number of us who started some twenty years ago, Mietta’s closed at the end of 1995 and Stephanie Alexander said last year she wants to sell Stephanie’s. Two Faces left Melbourne some years earlier as did Fanny’s.

So what we have left are places with fewer staff, simpler food and different standards. Situations and service are more “relaxed” and hold lesser importance. However we do have some of the chefs who worked in those once grand establishments still cooking very well, albeit in different sorts of places. Mietta’s last chef Donovan Cooke is going great guns at est est est (now closed). But Donovan and his co-chef and wife, Philippa Sibley Cooke, are doing it through total commitment and limited staff. Only their youth and passion can get the results from the small and inexperienced kitchen staff they have. Greg Malouf worked at Mietta’s and is now doing wonderfully complicated Lebanese style food at MoMo. Neither of these places bear any similarity to Mietta’s, nor should they, but their chefs maintain a dedication to food and their customers are reaping the benefits. They are not being served in the same style, the rooms may be noisier, prices relatively less.

Though it may suit the times and fashion, once the "grand establishments" are gone, can the old standards ever return? Where can the staff be trained to do so?