Meeting with Raphaël Rego, a star, two worlds and a symphony

March-April 2025

Bonjour Chef Rego, it's a pleasure and an honor to meet you. Your journey from Brazil to the Michelin-starred kitchens of Paris is a fascinating one, and could you tell us more about the “key taps” that have shaped your career?

My career began in sunny Australia, where my marketing studies had taken me. It was there, during a student job at a prestigious Relais & Châteaux in Sydney, that cooking revealed itself to me, forever changing my career path.

After four years of apprenticeship and discovery, the call of Paris, capital of gastronomy, was irresistible. I honed my skills there at the illustrious École Ferrandi, then with renowned French chefs, before giving life to my dream: the OKA restaurant. Opened in 2018, it was crowned with a Michelin star the very next year, becoming the first Brazilian starred establishment abroad.

Through OKA, my ambition was to create a culinary bridge between Brazil, the land of my roots, and France, the land of my fulfillment.

Your cuisine is a true voyage. What are your main sources of inspiration? How does your Brazilian heritage blend with the techniques of French haute cuisine? What specific products do you use and what techniques are you particularly fond of?

My main source of inspiration is my grandmother's cuisine, rich in flavors, but also my travels around the world. My training and experience acquired in France have enabled me to work in depth on Brazilian products and to highlight them through different cooking techniques. For example, for dessert I created an apple and manioc mille-feuille, cooked at very low temperature, which I then pan-fried in butter flavored with tonka bean; or my beurre blanc with passion fruit. I spent a long time working on a citrus condiment to create a caramel with citrus and cachaça flavours, to recapture the spirit of the caipirinha. Last but not least, a dish that struck a chord with various food critics was the black bean, cooked in different ways and with different textures.

With this dish, I wanted to extract all the flavors of the black bean, using fermentation, dehydration of the bean skin to obtain the bean powder with peppery notes, obtaining a powerful juice in taste by reducing the cooking water. In short, another way of making a feijoada.

Brazilian gastronomy is gaining worldwide recognition. What role do you play in this development?

When I opened my restaurant in France, my most ardent desire was to introduce the richness of Brazilian gastronomy to this cradle of the culinary art. As a Brazilian, I'm immensely proud to be able to share the flavours of my native land in the heart of the world capital of gastronomy.

I hope, at my humble level, to contribute to its influence. My greatest satisfaction was to see Brazilian products, such as chillies, grown in the Nièvre region, or aromatic plants from Amazonia (Jambu) cultivated by Sylvie in the Quyvieun Farm (Hautes Garonne), evidence of the exchange and fusion of cultures that I strive to promote.

Creativity is at the heart of your art. How do you find the balance between innovation and respect for culinary traditions, a bit like watchmakers who revisit the classics with more modern technologies or designs?

I came to France to find the meaning of cooking, to learn all the techniques that have made French gastronomy famous the world over, and then to bring my own vision and culinary identity to each dish. You can't modernize an element without understanding its origins.

Just as in fine watchmaking, the balance lies in passing on your own history while respecting the products you work with in the kitchen, and not forgetting to convey emotion and meaning in the dishes you present.

Chef, in your kitchen, each ingredient has its precise role, place and cooking time. How does this meticulous orchestration resonate with the precision and complexity of a watch movement?

For me, a dish is a symphony of flavors, a gustatory puzzle in which each element fits together with the precision of a goldsmith, in a quest for perfect harmony. Cooking is like clockwork: a delicate dance of gears in which every part, however minute, plays a crucial role.

The slightest disturbance, an ingredient out of place, and the subtle balance is broken, the magic vanishes. Just as a grain of sand jams the wheels of a watch, a single discordant element can tip a dish into cacophony.

The presentation of a dish is an art in itself. How do you conceive the aesthetics of your creations, and what parallels can be drawn with the world of luxury?

To me, the world of luxury is defined by excellence in raw materials and meticulous attention to detail. This philosophy also guides our culinary approach, where each dish is designed to evoke emotion from the moment the customer enters.

Everything is orchestrated with surgical precision, to achieve perfect harmony in every tasting, a sensory experience where every element intertwines to create an indelible memory.

What attracts you to Maison Tellus? What values resonate with your own vision?

I have a particular admiration for Maison Tellus, whose watches combine bold modernity in design with respect for the brand's heritage and history. This subtle alliance resonates deeply with me as a chef, as I strive to pass on to my guests a creative, daring cuisine, without ever denying my Brazilian roots.

Which Maison Tellus model did you choose, and why? What emotions does it evoke in you?

I chose the Dueller model. To wear a watch is to assert one's singularity through an exceptional object, a reflection of the wearer's identity and character. I love the originality of this watch, with its unique design. As a Michelin-starred chef, I strive to offer my guests a unique culinary experience, where tradition and modernity intertwine in a quest for excellence. This is precisely the feeling I get when I wear my Dueller.