The alchemists While Passedat offers his customers a taste of the sea, Lapouzahas re-created its smell for Courreges. Wild Ocean, his new One showcases the sea’s produce, the scent for men, is an ode to the ocean’s aromas. The idea for this other re-creates its aromas. Three-star creation was inspired by a memory of a weekend he spent on chef Gérald Passedat, at Le Petit Nice, the Pilat dune, between the Gironde and the Landes. “I recall the smell of the wind on the dune, the odor of sea spray, salt and Benoist Lapouza, the “nose” behindand warm sand.” Wild Ocean starts out with an accord of fresh,salty seawater, then changes direction with a warmer note of Wild Ocean, the new men’s fragrance white sand, finally ending on an intriguing base with hints of by Courreges, share the same vocation:musk that recalls the animal quality of ambergris. “We trigger spawning emotion through the senses.emotions,” says Lapouza. “To bring happiness, color, comfort and pleasure to people, you need to be generous. You have to surprise them, too. A good perfumer must be a bon vivant!” On that particular day, the sea was rapping on the windows of Le Petit Nice. The white villa standing on the rocks overlooking Scents of salt and stone The lunch service is over. Passedat Marseille harbor is an institution that’s been dedicated to can finally leave his kitchen and take a seat opposite Lapouza. gastronomic excellence for more than a hundred years. Far from A waiter brings a tray of fish caught that day. “My task is to put the din of the city and yet located right in its heart, the establish- forgotten dishes and fish center stage again. We work with 75 to ment lies at the water’s edge, like the prow of a ship plying the 80 different species every year,” the chef explains. The dentex, Mediterranean. This is the ideal setting for Gérald Passedat’s bream, bonito, whiting, red porgy and Moray eel, central to his cuisine, which showcases the riches and secrets of the sea. Today, cuisine, are prepared in many different ways here: raw, cooked, the water has taken on a navy hue. Squalls are whipping up a marinated, dried, aged. “My aromas are anchored in the sea air, salty spray and the white edifice has the look of a yacht pitching rock and saltwater. They are filled with the sea air, just like fishing and rolling on the waves. The wild elements inspire the menu nets.” On the other side of the table, Lapouza leans toward that devised by this triple-starred chef, whose cuisine is conceived to morning’s catch as if smelling a bouquet of flowers. evoke a dive in the sea. From rock to the seabed and back again. Outside, as the storm dies down, the sun breaks through the clouds and is reflected in the Mediterranean. “The sea has a A cuisine of the depths Perfume designer Benoist Lapouza force and power that cannot be tamed,” says Passedat. “It also is sitting at a table overlooking the waves, all of his senses fully smells of the sun’s warmth and brightness,” adds the perfumer, attuned. He is studying the dishes on the menu prior to smell- a regatta enthusiast for whom the smell of the sea mingles with ing their many aromas and sampling them. He enters the sea the scents of the land, carried by the wind. “After eight days at gently with the starters, the water coming up to his knees: sea, you get used to living surrounded by salty air. When you’re langoustine broth with mallow flowers infused with dried thyme back on land, it’s difficult to do without it,” he continues. “Yes, and sea urchin (uni) arranged on green-tomato jus. “Delicious. you feel quite naked,” laughs Passedat. The chef picks up the The scent of sea urchin is very close to my conception of the bottle of Wild Ocean and sprays a cloud of perfume into the salty sea air,” he expais. d then, like a scuba diver, he slips air. “It’s very good, it smells of the sea, but it’s also silky, like into his wetsuit and descends into the Jardin Marin (sea garden), the sun and like velvet. I love the smell of pebbles and moss in a dish composed of seaweed, octopus, clams, oysters, squid and the undergrowth, too.” “Moss has a salty smell,” explains an intensely salty broth enriched with plankton olive oil. Lapouza, “because in the past the sea used to cover everything.” A composition that’s a tableau of the ocean depths. A very long time ago, everything tasted of the sea air. Langues d’oursins sur jus de tomates vertes. Sea urchin (uni) on green-tomato jus. 207