Japanese potatoes have an unusual starch/sugar content and require
blanching in water. I suggested peanut oil instead of canola, like we use
in New York, and was informed that one could rent a small apartment for
what it cost to fill a deep-fryer with it. I'd brought along some white
truffle oil and some truffles and the crew gazed at them like Martian
artifacts.
There was no runner or expeditor at Les Halles Tokyo. After food was
plated, it was hand-carried to the outer service bar where it was picked
up by the waiters. The garde-manger, who also doubled as pâtissier and
worked in an open area, visible to he dining room, was required out of
custom, to shriek "Welcome!" in Japanese, along with waiters, bartender
and manager, to all arriving guests. This was somewhat alarming to a
jet-lagged newcomer like myself. The process was repeated on
departure, as it was almost everywhere I went, the ubiquitous scream of
"Arigato gozaimashiTAAAA!" making me want to leap out of my skin.
Frédéric was beat. He worked seven days a week, fourteen-plus hours a
day, as did the general manager. It was early days or our new outpost—
not yet busy enough to require a full staff—and total commitment was
required. The GM's eyes seemed to float around in his skull in pools of
fatigue. The cooks worked split shifts, arriving at the last possible
second before service, working through lunch, then they were cut loose
to wander idly around Roppongi—far from their residences—before
returning for dinner. The carping and grumbling an arrangement like this
would inspire back in New York would lead invariably to mutiny and
open revolt. Here? People went about their tasks with considerable good
cheer and dedication.
The proletarian chic of Les Halles New York was something new to the
Japanese. They don't really get the humble workingman's fare. They
adore the higher-end stuff, though, and there were unintentionally
hilarious re-creations of haute and nouvelle classics (fettucine and rice
on the same plate, for instance). There was and is a heartfelt desire to