Albany’s gourmet French chef has fulfilled his dream passion travelling the world cooking for royalty and superstars

“My dad always said if you want to travel the world, you have to find the right profession.” Xavier Poupel took his father’s advice and fulfilled his dream to travel the world, cooking for royalty, superstars — and Albany. Raised in the north of France, Poupel has prepared meals for Prince Charles in the Jordanian desert, Princess Caroline on a private yacht, and the Ferrari Formula One team in Monaco. His list of high-profile customers is dotted with billionaires, politicians and celebrities. Some of the most recognisable names include Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Evel Knievel, Robert Redford and Bruce Willis. The list features a generous helping of royalty, such as the Sultan of Brunei, the King of Saudi Arabia, the King and Queen of Jordan and the Aga Khan. From working in kitchens of world-renowned French restaurants in New York, Singapore and the Caribbean, he settled in the Great Southern with his wife, Janette, about 10 years ago. For seven years, Gourmandise & Co has provided a delightful and delicious window into France on Stirling Terrace. Now, the time has come for the Poupels to sell their business and move into the next phase of their lives. But after such a high-rolling, globetrotting career, why did he choose Albany? “Why we do things is a mystery of the journey of life,” Poupel said. “It’s a nice place to live. It’s growing very fast but Albany is still a regional town, so it’s not always easy to succeed. We are lucky to have a lot of local support.” The Escoffier-trained chef said it had been a long journey from France to the south coast of WA. “I cook traditional French — peasant food done with the traditions learned from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts ,which is one of the hardest schools to learn to become a chef,” he said. “It is still very renowned. Kids were trained very hard. I was earning $40 a month for 12-hour days. I learnt the best of everything.” Escoffier — known as “the king of chefs and the chef of kings” — was a famous French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer, who popularised and updated traditional French cooking methods. After arriving in Australia, Poupel worked as executive chef at Prunier’s in Sydney before a stint at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth. With more than 50 years of culinary experience starting at the age of 14, his profession has taken him all over the world. Born in Normandy in the north of France, his love for cooking grew from a young age. “I was brought up in a pretty wealthy family and my grandfather had a cook at a beautiful chateau in Alsace,” he said. “As a boy, I would always run to the kitchen, and the cook, who was a woman, would put flour on my nose and play a bit. “So you want to be around that place and then you start wanting to cook. When I was 12 or 14, I wanted to travel the world. My dad said, ‘if you want to travel the world, you have to find the right profession’, and then I connected the two.” His passion has long been provincial-style cuisine — or “peasant food”. True to his French traditional leanings, his approach is simple: “Quality seasonal produce first, with as little manipulation as possible”. He said the idea behind his style of cooking was to enhance, not mask, natural flavours. “I don’t have a menu; I just go by the feel and what’s in the market to inspire me on the day,” he said. “We source a lot of produce from France as the flour is lighter there. We try to do things like we do in France and that’s what I think makes us unique.” Starting work about 3am, life as a chef means long days in the kitchen. “It’s the best time for me. I can see the ocean from my kitchen, I put on my music and no one is around to hassle me,” he said. “At 7.30am, we open and all the main preparation is done by then.” For Poupel and his wife, their Gourmandise & Co journey is coming to an end. They have chosen to put the business on the market so they can step away from the hustle and bustle of running a cafe. “When you come to a certain age, you don’t make any more plans when you have accomplished enough,” Poupel said. “I’m a happy guy. I’ve done what I wanted to do. “It’s not an easy journey, but I saw the world.”