Joel Robuchon makes his ‘Top Chef’ debut on Bravo

Are times that tough in the high-end restaurant business? Joel Robuchon, the world-renowned French chef and restaurateur, is following in the footsteps of his former protege Gordon Ramsay by taking the reality television dollar.

Robuchon was once named 'chef of the century' by the influential French restaurant guide Gault Millau and currently holds the most Michelin stars - 18 - for his restaurants in London, Tokyo, New York, Las Vegas, Monaco and Paris.

Yet on Wednesday night the 64-year-old chef appeared on US TV as a judge on Bravo's Top Chef, alongside fellow French culinary masters Hubert Keller, Jean Joho and Laurent Tourondel on a French-themed episode.

Not surprisingly, the man who Ramsay once said made his other mentor, the volatile Marco Pierre White, look like a "fucking pussycat", proved to be a tough taskmaster.

Wannabe chefs Ron and Robin's frogs legs were overcooked, dry and "the flavours were masked". Another contestant, Laurine cooked her lobster so thoroughly that it was missing something "genuine". But when praise was due, the French master readily dished it out, saying of Mike and Bryan's trout and bernaise, "I liked it a lot."

Robuchon's move into reality TV cooking isn't so surprising given that back home in France he has presented a traditional cookery show, Bon Appétit Bien Sur, for many years.

Ironically one of Michelin's fiercest critics - calling the influential rating system "stuck in the past" - he is known for leading French cuisine away from overly fussy back to authentic, more rustic cooking. And all of it without so much as an F-word. ·