n Laurie Rosenthal

 The Nation

 He's a rugby player, a boxer - and a prize-winning chef. Soft-spoken and self-confident, chef Philippe Etchebest is no fawning restauranteur, but a man who knows where he's going and where he's been.

The director/executive chef of Relais and Chateaux Hostellerie de Plaisance in Bordeaux, France, the 40-year-old has always been in the French culinary scene. His family is full of chefs. He first learned the basics from his grandmother, and his father owns and operates a restaurant in Bordeaux offering Basque cuisine. His origins are Basque, after all.

The family's culinary interests were exceptionally convenient. While he was studying in Bordeaux, Etchebest developed an interest in rugby, becoming good enough to take the No 12 shirt in the national team.

When he joined the family's restaurant, he could continue playing, but only on the weekends.

"My decision to stop playing on the team was logical," he says matter-of-factly. "The working life of a rugby player is short. The working life of a chef is long."

When he left Bordeaux for Paris, the restaurants he was working in were less accommodating.

"There wasn't any time for rugby," he says. "Besides, I'd broken both my knees."

Injured appendages didn't keep him from continuing his interest in sport. Although he still plays rugby ("but only for fun", he says), he turned his athletic talents to boxing, earning a belt in the middle-heavyweight division in Toulouse.

It was at Toulouse, where he was working in the two-Michelin-star Les Jardin de l'Opera, that he met his future wife Dominique. He was shopping in the market and she had taken time off from her studies to help her father in his butcher's shop. It was love at first sight.

He also began planning to vie for "Meilleur Ouvrier de France". This competition translates as "the best worker in France", but "craftsman" is perhaps a better word. Held every three years, the competition encompasses a broad range of fields, from chocolate making to various building trades.

Participating requires a great deal of skill, as well as confidence.

In 2000, when Etchebest finally entered (he was executive chef of the Hotel Chateau Grand Barrail in Saint Emilion at the time, and yes, he was already married), he competed against 680 chefs from all over France. In the finals, when more than 600 participants had been eliminated, the contestants were required to create dishes using the ingredients supplied.

The judges only had to taste his "sushi caviar with an onion gelee and cucumber mousse" and his fillet of duck served with duck foie gras, nuts, turnips and cubed vegetables, to award him the top prize.

Today, seven years later, as he sits in the V9 Wine Bar and Restaurant in Sofitel Silom Bangkok, where he's been offering a promotion featuring his cuisine, his crisp, white uniform sports the results of his success. On his collar are red, white and blue stripes - the ribbons that only a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" is allowed to wear.

Etchebest has continued to win awards, such as the Michelin star he has earned twice, once when he was director/executive chef of Chateau des Reynats, Restaurant l'Oison, and once for his current restaurant.

He also continues to box, but only three times a week. The restaurant and the small 21-room hotel take up a lot of his time, as does his three-year-old son. He also needs time for his RMSOR Roadster (soon to be replaced by a BMW K1200 R Roadster), which he races.

In addition, he makes time for promotions and consultations in Brazil, Saigon, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, New York and Dubai.

Luckily, Dominique works as his assistant, helping him follow his various pursuits.

But, this down-to-earth man is reluctant to speak much about just one subject.

"I don't like to talk about my food," he says. "I'd rather let it speak for itself."

And there's no arguing there. Taste his "simple" ravioli with mushrooms, topped with a froth of black mushrooms, and not only does the taste of the ingredients come through, but the exquisite sauce that accompanies the ravioli is so good that it's gone in a few seconds.

"I can see that you liked my sauce," he smiles, as he adds a few more spoonfuls, as if, when a guest enjoys his food, he's won all over again.

"With me, everything is a competition."