Shanghai sublime
Guy Grossi was the pathway to understanding Italian tradition and culture. Checks even came into the kitchen written in Italian.
In conversation with Michael Wilson at Marguerite.
Born? At Berwick Hospital in Melbourne Victoria (a whopper of a baby) to Kerry and Graham Wilson. I was the third son in what would be a family of five boys.
Education? Berwick Secondary College. Left school at 16 and went to start an apprenticeship at a suburban restaurant.
What keeps you going? My family and the people around me. The people I’m grateful to be able to work and mentor and the people in our dining room - hospitality is all about people.
Before opening Marguerite, Wilson worked for renowned chef Guy Grossi and led the kitchen at PHÉNIX, a one MICHELIN-Starred restaurant in Shanghai.
Currently his MICHELIN star streak continues in Singapore.
Favourite thing about Melbourne? My family. And drinks and laughs with my mates at the Australian Open.
Favourite cheap eat? Prata and Mutton Curry at Hoe Lye F&B on Rangoon Road (it’s my local street eat across from where I live). Crisp hot Prata, a deliciously rich and spicy mutton curry sauce, what’s not to love?!
Marguerite night interior.
Most useful cookbook? Any of the Ottolenghi cookbooks. They are a sounding board and a showcase for a cuisine I love so much. When I open any of his books, I feel like I’m shooting the breeze with Yotam.
Featured in the MICHELIN Guide Singapore since, 2022. Holding a Michelin Star for approximately 2 years.
Best kitchens worked? Guy Grossi was the pathway to understanding Italian tradition and culture. He was more a father figure to me and taught me how to cook not so much by recipe but instinctively. I learnt to really cook using my nose, my ears, my eyes and of course my palate.
Andrew McConnell’s kitchen was innovative. He experimented with Asian elements and his style was a completely different style of cooking I had ever known.
If a recipe said that it needed to have 30gm of onion, you’d weigh and slice it on a meat slicer. It was methodical but this was how he maintained that level of consistency.
I think the best kitchen to learn from though is through travel. I ended up travelling through Europe and spent several months as a farmhand on a Bologna winery. I learned so much more being outside of a kitchen. When you immerse yourself in the culture, only then can you fully gain a better understanding as to why things are the way they are.
Inspired by earth, driven by passion.
Surveying the fresh herbs with a practiced hand.
Marguerite table setting.
Advice to future young chefs? Be patient. Master the fundamentals. Don’t fall for trends. Fashion is fluid and food is fashion. Don’t work in a fine dining restaurant first. More often than not, everything is formulated and measured on a weighing scale. It’s by design to mitigate failure in the kitchen. But you need to make mistakes.
If you’re working at a more casual restaurant, you have more room to grow, learn and make pastas and sauces with your hands and palate. You really learn how to instinctively cook and understand the science of applying heat to protein. So, when you do end up cooking in a fine dining restaurant kitchen, you can actually do it.
Career turning point? There have been a few turning points in my life. Moving to Shanghai to head up the PuLi Hotel kitchen was the gateway to me staying in Asia and advancing my career. After a few years in the job, I started to feel a little disillusioned and thought about leaving the industry altogether. I had saved enough money to enrol myself in flight school and get my pilot’s license but then I received my first Michelin Star in Shanghai.
It was the message I needed to stay the course. A few months later, I met my wife, Tanvi and we moved to Singapore a few years after to open a fine dining restaurant, Marguerite at Gardens by the Bay and a more casual Mediterranean shared plates restaurant, Hortus, all within one month of each other. I received another star within eight months of opening Marguerite. So, there have been a lot of career turning points.
Most controversial menu ingredient? At PHÉNIX in Shanghai, we used to make a Duck neck sausage stuffed with foie gras, presented to the table on a plate, head, and all.
Marguerite interior.
Favourite kitchen tool? My Ninja blender, it’s lightweight, powerful, easy to clean and my Matfer Chinois (this was Guy Grossi’s favourite tool so I guess things have come full circle). It’s durable and lasts forever, you can tell when something is just made properly.
Produce.
Steak frite.
Mignardise trolley.
Early influences? You always tend to look up to your older siblings and my oldest brother was a chef when I started cooking. He’s eight years older and had a big influence on my decision to make cooking a career. In year nine and 10, I started work with a chef called Jason Bradford in his suburban restaurant in Upper Beaconsfield.
He taught me an insane work ethic and how to do things with efficiency and speed but most importantly, I learned about all aspects of working in a restaurant business from him. One day, he’d be showing us parts of an oven, how to put it together or repair it. On another day, I’d be shaking cocktails behind the bar.
Temperance beverages.
On classic vs modern cuisine chefs? You can’t have one without the other. So much of modern cuisine and cooking is rooted in the classics. A classic car doesn’t mean it’s old, it means it’s cemented its place in history. In the same vein, some modern cuisine will cement its place in history and become classic. Also, food has changed because technology has changed. Not enough gratitude goes to the scientists that have allowed us to move forward in our techniques through the technology they have produced.
Morel mushroom, custard asparagus, spring peas, ramson.
Dry ager.
Obsiblue prawn noodles.
How can we keep attracting chefs into the food world? Not all chefs are the same. Everyone’s different and has different goals for making cooking their career or reasons for staying. You’ve got your hotel chefs, your café/bistro chefs, pub chefs and the creative chefs. People that are more artistic and expressive may also work for less money if they see the value in the long term. Sometimes it might be a case of dollar, dollar bills but at its core, I think it’s fundamentally important to engender a good work/life balance and culture in the workplace and make the restaurant a home where budding chefs can receive an informed education in their trade.
Rhug Estate lamb, harissa, chickpea panisse, saltbush.
In the garden.
Mignardises.
On the pass.
Obsession ingredient? Anything at its peak, in season.
Purveyor tip? Be nice to them. Treat purveyors like anyone you work with. They don’t work for you; they work with you. If you approach your relationships with purveyors in this way, they will open doors and help you along the way.
White chocolate coated olive oil pate de fruits.
Cheese course.
Marguerite bookings
18 Marina Gardens Drive, #01-09 Flower Dome, Singapore.
Phone: +65 9862 3306
Opens 6pm Wed.
Menu: www.marguerite.com.sg
Photography credit: Rebecca Dickson.
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