Spotlight on: Culinary Master Michel Roux

Michel Roux, and the Roux family, has become a household name associated with contributing significantly to the flowering of British Haute cuisine. The family own The Waterside Inn and Le Gavroche, two renowned restaurants that have been adorned with Michelin stars – the highest of three a piece. Michel Roux and his brother Albert have had many decorated chefs start their budding careers in their restaurants, personalities like Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Bryn Williams, and Michael Smith are just a few of the quality artisans that have emerged from the mentorship of these skilled brothers.

Born in 1941 in Charolles France, Roux started cultivating his passion for the culinary arts at a young age. At fourteen he began training as a pastry chef in Belleville, Paris. His older brother Albert Roux was working as a pastry chef in the British embassy in Paris, and was able to help Michel get a job that catalysed his impressive career. Not long afterwards the brothers moved to England, and in 1967, they opened their first restaurant Le Gavroche (translates to ‘the street urchin’), which quickly became a success, guests at the London opening party included Charlie Chaplin and Ava Gardiner. Following the success of Le Gavroche, the brothers opened The Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire. The Waterside Inn has now become the only British restaurant to hold three Michelin stars for 28 years. The success of the brothers flourished from a mixture of timing and their unrivalled talent, The Waterside Inn and Le Gavroche emerged at a time when there was a vacuum in British cuisine, and a high demand for fine dining.

Since the opening of The Waterside Inn and Le Gavroche, Michel Roux has received an OBE, a Lifetime Achievement award from Tatler and The Observer Food Monthly, as well as a Meilleur Ourvrier de France en Pâtissie and many other outstanding decorations. He has appeared on shows such as Master Chef and Saturday Kitchen, as well as starting new culinary ventures in places like Vietnam. The Roux family are a dynamic and have become pioneers for fine dining and world class cuisine. Michel Roux is now semi-retired with his Australian wife, but his legacy will remain and continue to live on in within the British culinary culture.