Chefs and Restaurants

... and one or two other people involved in the catering industry.

Owner and chef of the Manoir aux Quat' Saisons restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire			Raymond Blanc
Owner and chef of the Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire – one of Britain's four restaurants with three Michelin stars. Also owns Dinner in London, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (two Michelin stars), and two pubs in Bray: The Crown at Bray and The Hinds Head (one Michelin star). Famous for highly original recipes such as snail porridge and bacon & egg ice cream; his style has been called "molecular gastronomy"			Heston Blumenthal
One of the most prominent chefs associated with the nouvelle cuisine – claimed that the French food writer Henri Gault first used the term to describe food that he and other top chefs prepared for the maiden flight of Concorde in 1969; died in 2018, aged 91; controversially, his restaurant near Lyon subsequently lost its 3–star rating in the Michelin Guide, which it had held for a record 55 years			Paul Bocuse
French chef (1846–1935), credited with popularising and updating traditional French cooking methods in the late 19th century; appointed by Richard D'Oyly Carte to run the kitchens at the Savoy Hotel in London, shortly after its opening in 1889; while there he invented two dishes named after the Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (of whom he was a fan) – Peach Melba and Melba toast			Auguste Escoffier
Principal of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London in the 1950s, along with flower arranger and domestic science guru Constance Spry; together they created the dish coronation chicken for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II			Rosemary Hume
Owner and chef of the Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Bucks – the only pub in Britain with two Michelin stars			Tom Kerridge
Was the face of Sainsbury's, from 2000 to 2011; set up the non–profit restaurant and cocktail bar Fifteen, on the outskirts of the City of London, in 2002 – as documented in a Channel 4 series; initiated a campaign, originally called Feed Me Better, to encourage British schoolchildren to eat healthy foods and cut out junk food; later undertook specific projects to do the same in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and Huntington, West Virginia, USA			Jamie Oliver
Born in Renfrewshire, went to school in Warwickshire; had a trial for Glasgow Rangers, the football club he supported as a boy, but his career was cut short by injury; worked for Marco Pierre White at Harvey's, Albert Roux at La Gavroche; opened his own restaurant in Chelsea, 1998; Petrus at the Berkeley Hotel, 2001(?); runs an eponymous restaurant at Claridge's Hotel, London; others include the Boxwood Café at the Berkeley, Verre at the Dubai Creek Hilton, Maze in New York and Cape Town, Cerise in Tokyo, Boxwood in Los Angeles			Gordon Ramsay
Became head chef at the Michelin–starred Greenhouse Restaurant in Mayfair, in 1990, where he revived such British classics as faggots and fishcakes; opened his first restaurant (under his own name) in 1997; credited with "almost single handedly put[ting] British food on the world stage"; died in 2019, aged 59, of a subdural haematoma (bleeding on the brain, normally caused by a head injury)			Gary Rhodes
Owner and chef of L'Enclume (The Anvil) at Cartmel, Cumbria – opened in 2002, named by the Good Food Guide as Britain's best restaurant for four consecutive years, 2014–17			Simon Rogan
Born in Budapest, 1915, the son of a prominent restaurateur; emigrated alone to London in 1946, where he managed a restaurant and a club; wrote a column in the Daily Telegraph; published his first guide to British restaurants in 1957; insured his taste buds for £250,000; died in 2010, aged 94			Egon Ronay
Nickname of Nusret Gökçe – Turkish chef and internet meme (born 1983) – after his idiosyncratic way of seasoning his food			Salt Bae

London restaurant, opened in 1967 by French chefs, brothers Albert and Michel Roux; taken over in 1993 by Albert's son, Michel Roux Jr.; the first British restaurant to gain (successively) one, two and three Michelin stars; closed in 2024 (on the expiry of its lease)		Le Gavroche
Italian restaurant on the north bank of the Thames in London, opened in 1987 by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray		River Café
Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey, John Torode and Marco Pierre White all caused outrage in 2016 (for example in the Spanish newspaper El Pais) for the way they cook (dish)		Paella

© Haydn Thompson 2018–24