After eight years at the helm of Edinburgh’s La Garrigue, Jean-Michel Gauffre has branched out and opened L’artichaut in the Eyre Place site formerly occupied by Ducks. A fine dining vegetarian restaurant, the new project has been a journey of discovery for the Languedoc native.

Q: What made you think that the time was right to do a fine dining vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh?

JMG: I think it’s something to do with my age. I’m putting it down to a mid-life crisis. Some people my age buy themselves a Porsche. I’m a bit of an idiot so I got myself a new restaurant.

Q: Have you been interested in vegetarian food for a long time?

JMG: It’s a number of different things. I started to think about a new place two years ago. A friend took me to lunch at David Bann’s restaurant. On that particular day, I had perhaps done ten or fifteen for lunch at La Garrigue but Bann’s was heaving. To begin with, I wasn’t too keen on going there for lunch but it was really good. I was already looking for another business and that helped plant the idea. It didn’t happen over night but I started putting more vegetarian options on the menu at La Garrigue and organised vegetarian evenings which were very successful. When the opportunity to take over Duck’s came up, it seemed like a good time to do it.

It is something to do with age though. Increasingly, I am finding it difficult to digest meat, especially in the evening. I am not a vegetarian. I enjoy my poultry and I love my fish or a bit of rabbit or grouse but, five or six days a week, I’m quite happy to stay away from eating meat. It has been a journey of discovery for me but I’m enjoying finding new techniques, ingredients and flavours.

Q: It is a stereotype but don’t the French think that vegetarianism is a mental health problem?

JMG: I was with my wife in France this summer. Karen is vegetarian but I forgot to tell the waitress this one day when we sat down to lunch. When we did mention it the waitress looked really sad and asked Karen is she was ill. She was very concerned. So no, the French and vegetarianism don’t go together.

Q: Has opening L’artichaut changed the ingredients that you like to work with?

JMG: It has made me discover ingredients that I had never used before like agar agar which is a setting agent made from seaweed. Or, instead of cooking something in chicken or fish stock, we have been cooking in herbal tea or lapsang souchong for its smoky flavour. It’s very exciting.

I wanted to do a vegetarian restaurant but not do the things that everyone else does. That means no nut loaf or tofu or risotto. Those are the options that vegetarians are always given in traditional restaurants.

Q: What do you like to eat on a night off?

JMG: Like every other chef, I am not fussy about what I eat on a night off. I eat anything providing that it is fresh and prepared with a certain level of care. That’s all I ask. I like simple things done well. I won’t do fast food and frozen crap.

Q: Is there anything you don’t like cooking with?

JMG: Arrogant chefs. I just don’t have any time for them. Arrogant chefs and prima donnas are the two things I can’t cook with.

Q: What gadget/utensil can’t you work without?

JMG: I hate to say it but, these days, it would probably my computer. I need my knives and I like my garlic peeler but the computer is a must.

Q: Ketchup or Maldon sea salt?

JMG: Camargue sea salt.

Q: You can get anyone in the world to cook you a meal. Who will it be?

JMG: Paul Bocuse, Pierre Koffman and Yves Phuries. If I could get those three to cook for me, I would be in heaven.

Q: What is the best thing about being a chef?

JMG: The way I look at it is that if customers walk into the restaurant having had a s**t day and they are in a grumpy mood and then two hours later they leave with a smile on their face then, next to sex, that’s the best thing. You take them away from their worries for a little while and give them pleasure. It’s a beautiful profession. It’s a really humbling job in so many ways. It has been hard and it still is but it’s special. It’s like being in the army in that you join a lifestyle.

Q: Chefs are well known for drinking in moderation but what would you cook for a colleague who was suffering from a hangover?

JMG: In Scotland, a large bowl of porridge. In France, possibly a big bowl of tripe and a bottle of wine. Chefs have an image of living hard and, for a while, cooking was supposed to be the new rock ‘n’ roll but I’ve heard that Mick Jagger hasn’t drunk or smoked anything for a few years. It’s a hard job with long hours and if you drink too much and don’t look after yourself then you don’t last too long. Or you end up with a face like a Rolling Stone.

Q: You are planning a romantic evening with your wife. What’s cooking?

JMG: I’m a bit of a forager so at this time of year, it would be a wild mushroom feast.

Q: Tell us your daftest customer complaint?

JMG: Where do you want to start? From ‘There are too many beans in my cassoulet’ to ‘This fish soup is too fishy’ I’ve heard them all.