Chefs from Corinthia hotel tour Rungis Market

Here at Le Marché, our links with Rungis Market in Paris are second to none. We operate our own warehouse in this leading European wholesale market and have several full-time French buyers sourcing the very best produce for our chefs here in London. To find out more, read our interviews with buyer Amaury here and here. We’re just back from a trip there with a team of chefs from the Corinthia hotel led by executive chef André Garrett (top left in photo below and his head chef Michal Bialoskorski (to the right of André). Read their story below …

Michal said: "I'd never been there before. It was something amazing. You have everything in one place: from equipment and uniforms to fish, charcuterie, all the dry store products then moving into fruits and vegetables. The products are on another level."

Michal explained how around 50 chefs work at the 280-room hotel, working at the restaurant The Northall, The Winter Garden, serving breakfast and room service and for the night shift. “We go for French and Italian food with a little influence from Asia – often some Japanese flavours – just a little twist.”

At this time of year, he is highlighting various autumnal ingredients on his new menus. “We love mushrooms and we use them for different things, like beef with ceps, wild mushroom arancini or a Jerusalem artichoke tart with walnuts and ceps.” He makes a purée of late-season plums to serve with a Lake District iron steak and short rib. Agen prunes are a favourite, too. “We cook then in an Earl Grey syrup with star anise and cinnamon to serve with turkey.”

It’s a wonderful time for all manner of root crops, too. Michal uses salsify in a halibut dish to striking visual effect. He cooks half the salsify with red wine; the other with white. “You have two different colour of salsify which look very beautiful on the plate. We also make crisps from salsify which we arrange on the top of the fish to give the impression of scales.”  

Michael thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Rungis. “I liked the Buddha’s Hand lemons,” he says. “They are very beautiful. The thick skin can be zested and added to sauce for fish. It has an incredibly powerful flavour.”

The talented chefs at Corinthia rely on Le Marché for their fresh produce due to the quality of the ingredients, the strong and fast supply chains and expert buyers. “Whatever we need they will find and deliver to use. We get deliveries 12 times a week, twice a day.”