Guest chef Thierry Marx at Restaurant Ikarus

In May 2009 at the Restaurant Ikarus: Thierry Marx

The cooking Hollywood star

"Château Cordeillan", Bages, France

Thierry Marx is more than just a French Bruce Willis look-alike; having worked as a security guard delivering money in the past, he also shares the American action star’s love of danger. A few years later, he swapped his uniform for a chef’s apron. He worked with a great deal of meticulousness and accuracy to deconstruct the structure of products and dishes and put them back together again in a different way. While the presentation and appearance of his finished creations may look rather unusual, his dishes are more familiar to the taste buds than it might at first appear. This represents the uniqueness and strength of his molecular cuisine.

Many of the great French cooks were born into Haute Cuisine. Yet this was not the case with Thierry Marx who spent his childhood in Ménilmontand, a former working class district in northern Paris. After leaving school, where he was not overly successful, he went on to join the army and served in Lebanon, amongst other places. The civil war had a big impact on him and he does not like to speak about this period of his life. On the suggestion of his grandfather, Marx trained as a chef with the Compagnons, an organisation of craftsmen. He completed his apprenticeship at the Taillevent restaurant under the guidance of Alain Chapel and the Jamin under the watchful eye of Joel Robuchon. In 1987, the French chef was awarded his first star at the Roc en Val in Tours and four years later at the Cheval Blanc in Nimes. Marx then took some time out and travelled to Asia, Singapore and Bangkok. Here he worked, trained in various martial arts and embarked on a voyage of self-discovery.

Inspired by the people, lifestyles, dishes and fresh ingredients he encountered here, he returned to his homeland in 1995 and took up the position of head chef at the Chateau Cordeillan-Bages. Marx, once a somewhat poor pupil, developed here to become a master of Nouvelle Cuisine. His kitchens produce unique creations such as gently braised goose liver stuffed with peach and a drop of port, risotto with soya and the juice of oysters and truffles and spaghetti with sweetbreads, mushrooms and truffles rolled into a nest.

In 2005, Marx was named as Cook of the Year by the Gault Millau Guide. A year later, his colleagues elected him as head chef of 2006 as part of an annual event organised by the magazine Le Chef. The Chateau Cordeillan-Bages has been deeply indebted to Marx since 2007. Under his guidance, the restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star, winning its second three years later. When he’s not cooking, Thierry is sure to be found writing part 2 of his bestseller Planéte Marx.

Bruce Willis may be one of the world’s best action stars, but Thierry Marx is responsible for all the excitement in the kitchens of the Chateau Cordeillan-Bages. Marx’s dishes stand for a new generation of cooking which combines ultra-modern regional dishes and a splash of the Far East with conservative Parisian gastronomy. Indeed, his motto sounds like something from one of the ‘Die Hard’ movies: destroy to build back up again.