Romain Fornell: "The restaurants I have opened in Paris are the Louis Vuitton of gastronomy: good and popular"

I interview the chef Romain Fornell (Toulouse, 1976) at the Hermanos Torres restaurant, hours before he dines on turbot and sole from the aquaculture brand Neptura. He is a chef with a calm appearance despite the volume of work he has. He directs the Goût Rouge group, which has restaurants especially in Barcelona (the last one he has inaugurated is Casa Tejada), and four more in Paris. Fornell arrived in Barcelona at the end of the 90s to work as a chef at the now-defunct Maison du Languedoc Roussillon. In 2003, he inaugurated the Caelis restaurant, which is now located inside the Ohla Barcelona Hotel and obtained a Michelin star.¿How did it come to be that you are the chef of four restaurants in Paris? In the last interview I did with you, you told me that you didn't want to take any planes to have to go to work.

— This was my idea, but one day I met Benjamin Patou at the Hostal de la Gavina, in S'Agaró, who has a house nearby, and he made me the proposal. Patou was dining at the Candlelight restaurant, at the hostal, and he liked the food we were making there, based on classic French recipes, with Catalan produce. There is also a piano. I told him no.

If you told him no, what happened?

— He insisted. He told me he was offering me an apartment in Paris so I wouldn't have to look for accommodation when I went. He took me there to show me the restaurants he wanted me to manage, introduced me to his partner, Antoine Arnault, son of the owner of Christian Dior, and I said yes. Now we have opened Café Lapérouse – which this year celebrates 260 years and was the first three-star restaurant in Paris – Lafayette and Prunier.

I've been there, and the feeling is as if the world was ending by the way people were enjoying themselves.

— I don't want to compare the restaurants of Barcelona with those of Paris, but in Paris, going to a restaurant is a big deal. People are impeccably dressed, they go to eat because it's a moment of celebration, of joy. At Lapérouse there is a piano and, therefore, live music.

It has four. Do you plan to open more?

— Yes, two more, also in the city of Paris. They are Auberge Bressane and Relais Louis XIII.

The decoration of restaurants also contributes to the joie de vivre we are talking about.

— Everything is handled by Lázaro Rosa-Violán, who in Barcelona has designed Boca Grande, el Nacional. He reforms them, decorates them with a special soul. Afterwards, Benjamin and Antoine create the setting, write the script, and I do the cooking, which is classic French cuisine.

A successful classic French cuisine.

— In Paris, people want to eat this cuisine, both locals and foreigners who go there. It is a classic French cuisine that is staged, the dishes are finished in front of the customers. Each of the restaurants serves one hundred and fifty people per service. It's a lot of volume.

At Café Lapérouse, many of the great wines and champagnes were served in glasses.

— Yes, it has one of the best wine cellars in Paris. Also the largest collection of Château d’Yquem wines, owned by Antoine. That's why it's served in glasses. Also champagnes: Dom Pérignon, Krug, Ruinart, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot. Of wines, besides Château d’Yquem, it also has Château Cheval Blanc and more. It is one of the most important fortunes in France.

The Lapérouse Café has also appeared in movies.

— Woody Allen filmed one of the scenes for the movie Midnight in Paris, in 2011. Furthermore, they have now published a book explaining why the window mirrors are scratched: it was the way men demonstrated that they were giving diamonds to their lovers. They would pass them over the glass so they could check they were good. Additionally, it is said that from the basement there is a door that leads to the National Assembly, which is behind.

In all the restaurants I checked that the pasta dishes were very important.

— They are here because I have created a menu with the intention that everyone likes it. So, we make pasta with caviar, pasta with freshly grated truffle. Depending on the season, we change the product with which we accompany it. I have realized that people like simplicity, and that is how they repeat again and again. I would tell you that the restaurants I have opened in Paris are the Louis Vuitton of gastronomy: good and popular.

At Prunier they told me that former President Nicolas Sarkozy usually goes there to eat.

— Famous people pass through here, yes. Important families come to Prunier because it is located in a very good neighborhood, the sixteenth district, and also because the owners are friends with these families. At Prunier, we have a very famous singer as a client, who eats a kilo of caviar with potato chips.

I'm asking you now about Catalan restaurants. You have just started the season in S’Agaró.

— We are at a very good point of maturity. Since we opened, we have had very good expectations. I have been here for twelve years, and I have a very good team, with the chefs Oriol Fernández and Jose Pulido, who is the executive chef. The restaurant is very Parisian, because the founding owner was inspired by the best restaurants in France and Switzerland.

The last restaurant you opened in Barcelona is Casa Tejada, and I have seen that you have managed to attract a public that fills the street.

— I am very happy. With Casa Tejada I have managed to get Café Turó to work too. We are working like never before.

There are also pasta dishes, and a lot of produce.

— Barcelona is the number one city when we talk about value for money. It is an unbeatable city with this tandem, and that's why I think people should value much more the effort we restaurateurs make, using excellent products, and the adjusted prices. In fact, the prices of restaurants in Paris without a Michelin star are the ones that have stars here. There is an economic difference, because in Paris the purchasing power is very high, but Barcelona has value for money.

Do you have any new restaurant projects in Barcelona?

— No, not in Barcelona. Only the two closest to Paris.

Romain, what do you still need to achieve professionally?

— Nothing more. I want to have health, enjoy my three fantastic children, my family, maintain what I have and enjoy what I have.