Top chef Pierre Gagnaire takes time to build relationship with staff

Voted best chef in the world by magazine this year, Pierre Gagnaire does not rest on his laurels as he makes multiple visits to his 15 fine-dining restaurants spread across four continents each year. Travelling between Paris, Berlin, London, Las Vegas, Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo, no one day is alike for Gagnaire.

"Time is something that is abstract," he says, as we take tea in his restaurant Pierre in the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong that he established in 2006.

"It's difficult to manage my time. I was in Las Vegas last week, so I woke up at 7am and immediately called France because it's around 4 o'clock there and London as it's 3 o'clock. It's necessary to talk to my team in Paris and after that I do sports. I run every few days as it's important. I sometimes eat too much or I eat too late and it's good for the brain to alleviate stress."

In Hong Kong, Gagnaire's schedule changes due to the time differences with Europe, but he still manages to do emails and running in the morning.

However, he does not worry too much if he doesn't catch up with his teams. "Sometimes I am tired and it's not necessary to talk to people. I don't get stressed if I haven't done it. I have passion, I am obsessed with my work and when you are in one place, you want to manage a problem immediately, but when you are travelling, you put the problem over there and come back to it later when you have the solution. With travelling, you must manage your life like that."

The 65-year-old, who was one of the first chefs to embrace the idea of food as art, says the reason he travels is to keep a good relationship with his restaurant staff.