Remy Lefebvre’s first ten years of life were spent in Ivory Coast, Africa,

where he was exposed to a constant diet of fish and tropical fruit. He would summer on his grandfather’s property and his father’s house in Normandy and Brittany, where he foraged for seafood and picked seasonal fruits and nuts. These experiences bred in young Remy an appreciation for nature and for produce at the peak of season, and memories that stayed with him. Remy’s childhood idyll ended with his family’s return to France when he was ten. In Nantes, he struggled with the new regimen of school, cold winters, and a then-to-him alien culture. Even in this displaced, unfulfilled state, his desire to see the world spurred Remy to a diploma in international trade. He backpacked for six months in Mexico where he imbibed its vibrant colours and piquant flavours, and helped the locals fish from boats. He would benefit from this time among tacos and tequila when years later he worked in a Mexican contemporary restaurant in Singapore.

His first job after the diploma took him to Paris – where he stayed two years working in an import and export business. He soon found the city and the job suffocating; and wanderlust again gnawed. An opening for General Manager of a paint factory in Mali found Remy in West Africa in 1999. But the difficulties and dangers of doing business in a third-world economy defeated him, and he returned to Nantes after 8 months. But shortly thereafter Remy was in Madrid; and Spain would change his life. Still seeking to work in international trade, he instead found easier pickings in short-term waitering. He started at an Irish pub as a ‘kitchen commis’ and found that he liked it. His next kitchen job at InShala was his informal ‘culinary school’. Taking the 13-hour shifts of restaurant work in stride he learned to be creative and mentally agile in the often cash-strapped kitchen, constantly thinking on his feet to create food.

Remy’s break in true gastronomy came in 2002 when he left for Toledo as a replacement to support Chef Victor Sanchez Beato’s new restaurant opening. Working at Restaurant Locum with Chef Beato who himself had worked with the renowned chef, Martin Barasategui, was Remy’s entrée into fine dining. Remy’s fortitude was severely tested in the fires of a top-level kitchen, but he pulled through, and the restaurant was listed amongst the 100 Best restaurants in Spain, receiving multiple accolades. The time couldn’t be more opportune: Spain was riding the crest of ‘vanguard cuisine’ amidst the El Bulli phenomenon. Barcelona, the epicente of the new wave, beckoned, and Remy headed to the city, to Restaurante Reno, the first restaurant in Spain to receive two Michelin stars. Reno was redolent with old-style grandeur and its chef, Tony Botella, was the authority of sous-vide cooking and the leading ‘vanguard’ chef in Spain. Salvador Dali would draw on the napkins when he dined at Reno, and the place boasted racks of ancient wines and menus that dated back many years. Remy became entranced by the beauty of the art of gastronomy even more. By 2005, a mere 5 years from the time he first stepped into the kitchen of the Irish pub as an untrained kitchen commis, Remy was rubbing shoulders with chefs at the top of their game and his spare time was spent talking about gastronomy. It was a period of heady and intense learning. Remy was by then Executive Chef of Restaurant Fernandez – a 150-seat Barcelonian Mediterranean restaurant by Javier de las Muelas, the man behind the Dry Martini Bar in Barcelona. At a time when bar snacks were typically nuts and chips, Remy helped Javier develop innovative bar snacks for his speakeasy cocktail bar. In Spain, Remy’s rise had been meteoric, but more importantly, defining. He was finding his ‘voice’ and coming into his own as a chef. In 2007, just shy of 30 years of age, Remy embarked on his own venture, a restaurant calle Restaurant Artkuisine in Barcelona. He extended his skills and repertoire serving tasting menus of contemporary bistronomy-style French-Catalan cuisine with Mediterranean-inspired produce. Business flourished, but following the downturn from the financial crisis of 2008, Remy returned to France, to more adventures.

Next, to the Middle East. By 2010, Remy was working in Beirut, Lebanon, where he met his wife and fell in love with Lebanese food with its deep Mediterranean roots. The following years saw Remy working in Doha, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Singapore where in 2014 he was head-hunted to launch the Contemporary Mexican Restaurant, El Mero Mero.