Interview with Joshua Cairns (sous-chef) - Introducing the Restaurant kitchen team Dans le Noir ? Nantes

Joshua CAIRNS joined Erwan NOBLET's team in December 2021. Despite his young age, Joshua already has a wealth of experience in the restaurant business, not least thanks to his international background.

Having arrived in France for personal reasons, he and Erwan NOBLET (the chef) are now delighting guests at Dans le Noir ? Nantes, located within the Radisson Blu.

We tell you more about this collaboration and this new challenge for Joshua.

Hello Joshua! Can you introduce yourself?

Hello, my name is Joshua Cairns, I'm the sous chef at the Radisson Blu, I'm new to France and delighted to be here! I'm English and I've travelled a lot in my life, but I've fallen in love with the city of Nantes.

What's your background?

In France, there's a classic route to becoming a chef, whereas in England, it's more of a choice to go to a cookery school! I ended up doing a degree in Hong Kong which qualified me for culinary management, not thinking I'd choose cooking straight away! But I fell in love with it as soon as I started!

Which chefs inspire you/whom do you admire?

I worked for a great chef in Hong Kong called Gabriele Milani, and I really respected his leadership and the way he ran his kitchen. Another chef who brings a lot of inspiration is Richard Ekkebus, in the way he approaches dishes for people with special requirements such as lactose intolerance. What's more, I admire his ambition to protect the planet, because I think that should be everyone's priority these days!

Josh, have your travels inspired your cooking? If so, in what way?

Yes, the first thing you realize when you travel is that food definitely brings people together! And that everyone eats differently! Traveling a lot has made me aware of many flavors and has enabled me to use them in creating menus.

How has this collaboration influenced the new Dans le Noir ? Nantes menu?

Because we've only just started working together, it's made it much more interesting because we've combined our concepts and ways of doing things. It's made us both more open and curious in the way we work with food.

Josh, as a newcomer to the team, what do you find interesting about the challenge of creating a menu to be enjoyed in total darkness?

I think the most important thing when creating a menu is to forget that you're creating a dish that's going to be eaten in the dark! I think it's simply because the person can't see that you have to compose the dish very differently! However, we do our best to try and confuse (positively) customers with unusual smells, flavors and textures.

What's the perfect menu for you?

There's no such thing as the perfect menu. For me, the most important thing is the whole experience. The food counts, of course, but I wouldn't want to eat raclette in the tropical climate of the Maldives!

What's your best culinary memory?

My favorite culinary memory is doing a little cooking class in Thailand with my two best friends! It was the first time I could share my skills with them, and it was a great experience to share!

A favorite restaurant in Nantes?

Lamacotte.

Finally, what does Dans le Noir ? mean to you?

You realize that a lot of people eat with their eyes! And I love the challenge of creating a meal to be enjoyed in the dark! Just because you can't see doesn't mean we can just throw random ingredients on a plate without thinking about aesthetics! So we make the dishes as good as we can while playing with flavors, smells and textures.

If this interview with Josh, sous-chef Dans le Noir ? Nantes, has whetted your appetite for more of our cuisine, you can make a reservation here.