Maison Pourcel Shanghai: The twins are back ... again
“Hong Fangzi was one of the first French restaurants in Shanghai and this history has a lot of meaning to Chinese people,” Jacques Pourcel (left) says. “To build a restaurant in this place is like renewing French gastronomy in Shanghai.” The twin French chefs Jacques and Laurent Pourcel preside over a small restaurant empire that began in Montpellier, France and have now expanded throughout Asia. That first restaurant, Le Jardin des Sens, launched when the Pourcels were just 24 years old, was awarded three Michelin stars (though it now holds two). They now have venues in an extraordinary line up of cities: Bangkok, Tokyo, Casablanca, Geneva, Marrakech, Algiers and Dubai.
But what is an Asian restaurant empire without a stake in Shanghai?
The Pourcels are already known here for their first attempt at bringing fine French dining to the city with Sens&Bund, which opened in Bund 18 together with Bar Rouge in 2005. Sens&Bund closed down in 2008, with some tales untold, but the Pourcels are now back in a massive way.
Return to Shanghai
The Pourcels launched their Shanghai comeback in the prestigious location of the French Pavilion at the now-closed Shanghai World Expo. That restaurant, 6SENS, was jam-packed every single day, rain or shine, even including the rooftop terrace seating.
But the Pourcels' biggest move into Shanghai is the brand new Maison Pourcel, which they hope to make into the flagship for an ambitious culinary expansion throughout the country. Located in the former premises of the historic 1930s Shanghai French restaurant, Hong Fangzi (Red House), it opened in August and already carries a mantle for legendary Western cuisine.
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Jacques Pourcel says he’s long been attracted to China. “We have been in Asia for almost 10 years. We started in Tokyo, Japan where our first Asian restaurant continues to be a real success. Asia is opening up and we found out that the customers here -- especially in Shanghai when we were here -- are attracted to French cuisine.”
The closing of Sens&Bund, which has spawned some rumors over the years, can be blamed on the breakdown of the Pourcels’ relationship with their Taiwanese partners, Jacques explains. “We can’t say it was a failure because it generated a lot of income,” he says. “It became complicated because the Taiwanese partner wanted to have more and more control -- and being on the Bund there was a lot of overhead. The Taiwan company started to develop a lot of other projects, including T Sens, Mundo Latino, and they went for quantity instead of quality.”
Jacques says that there were also power struggles within the restaurant, including one person who fired some of the French employees to “make more space for himself.”
“It reached a point that we had to stop the consulting contract because the restaurant did not really reflect what we are any longer,” he says.
Maison Pourcel
With Maison Pourcel, there won’t be any such problems. “This time, Jacques and his partners are involved themselves financially as opposed to the Sens&Bund project which was only consulting,” explains Gilles Bihi-Zenou, executive director of 6SENS and the Pourcels’ partner in Shanghai.
“For Maison Pourcel, everything is chosen and decided by us from the location to the decoration, menu, staff, from every angle, everything comes from us,” says Bihi-Zenou. “The Pourcels have gained a lot of experience about the Shanghai market. They know the price point is a very sensitive thing for fine dining and you also have to careful about the size of the space. This place is perfect because upstairs is a small intimate room, it’s a 50 seater, we can create a more trendy, more lively atmosphere.” [Read more on the physical venue here.]
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Says Jacques, “We found this place through Gilles and it appealed to us because we like the French Concession and after our last venue, we absolutely didn’t want to go back to the Bund!”
Although some are excited for the brothers' return to Shanghai, some are skeptcial that with their restaurants around the world, Maison Pourcel will be here in name only.
Jacques explains that this will not be the case, he will not be a "fly-in, fly-out chef who is never in the kitchen," as some people might suspect of such a high-powered name. “I will stay for a long time to make sure this restaurant is successful,” he says, “Each year I will stay here for at least six months. I really like this city, it feels like home and I have a lot of friends.”
As a savvy businessman, Jacques sees the potential in Shanghai and beyond. “Shanghai is a city with a lot of opportunities for projects. We are planning to expand financially all over China in various projects. For Shanghai we have some ideas, but we are planning to open our next restaurant in Sanya.”
But for now, Jacques is focusing in Maison Pourcel, where he’ll be greeting guests and hoping to cook up some new non-Bund-related history. “We all know that Hong Fangzi was one of the first French restaurants in Shanghai and this history has a lot of meaning to Chinese people,” he says. “To build a restaurant in this place is like renewing French gastronomy in Shanghai.”
