Our pick of London's celebrity chef-backed restaurants
Have wossisname off the telly poach your egg
Who doesn't love a bit of celebrity spotting? It's quite the hobby in London. You will even see the eyes of the most puritanical cynic flash as Katie Price totters past on route to a cuticle emergency. It's in all of us.
So what fun to be able to combine this, a little, with an evening's dining.
When you attend a celebrity chef's restaurant - as well as the chance of an adrenaline releasing glimpse of a well-known chef through the kitchen swing doors - there's always the distinct possibility that as you tuck into your meal Jamie Oliver could've, just moments earlier, man-handled your sprouts. Figuratively speaking.
... and what greater dining treat could there be, than that?
Marcus has worked at Le Gavroche, L’Oranger and The Savoy Grill, but it was competing in The Great British Menu, where he prepared dessert for the Queen’s 80th birthday that brought him the most fame. Sample his modern European cuisine at award-winning Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley.
Richard Corrigan’s credentials include a Michelin star, winning the BBC’s Great British Menu competition, and presenting his own cookery show on Ireland’s RTE One. He also runs two exceptional restaurants: Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill and Corrigan’s Mayfair, where he serves up gourmet British cuisine.
Before Heston, you could be forgiven that thinking molecular gastronomy had something to do with genetically modified produce, but as well as favouring experiments with liquid nitrogen, the wacky chef is particularly fond of digging deep into the history of food. At Dinner you’re more likely to find lamb soup cooked to a 1700s recipe than a pear foam.
Theo Randall spent no less than seventeen years at The River Café, a stint that heavily influenced his classic, Italian cooking. He’s also known to pop up on TV from time to time, like on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen Live and bravely facing Anne Robinson on a special edition of The Weakest Link.
Atul Kochhar has appeared on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen as well as hosted his own programme, Atul’s Spice Kitchen: Malaysia. He was the first Indian chef to receive a Michelin star, back when he was head chef at Tamarind. His modern Indianrestaurant Benares has held on to its Michelin star for eight years running.
Michel Roux Jr. has lent his expert opinion to MasterChef as well as having appeared in Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. He also runs one of London’s most acclaimed restaurants, having taken over the reins from his father Albert.
Tom Aikens may have competed on Channel 4’s Iron Chef, but he made his name with stints at La Tainte Claire and Pied A Terre (earning two Michelin stars along the way) before opening his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea. Since then he’s had some bad fortune, with his first restaurant going into administration and third venture Tom’s Place lasting a mere six months. Tom’s Kitchen is proof that he is capable of great things.
Despite his best intentions, the former Naked Chef’s attempts to transform school dinners weren’t as well received as he hoped, but the empire of this ubiquitous cheeky-chappy-turned-entrepreneur shows no sign of waning. Jamie Oliver now sells cookware and tableware, pasta sauces and herbs, cookery books and barbecues, not to mention taking over the high street with Union Jacks. Just as well his food is great, as evidenced at Fifteen.
The most famous – or perhaps infamous – celebrity chef by far, his temper and private affairs are media fodder more often than his food is. He’s currently busy opening eateries in Las Vegas, but his first restaurant (and we think best) is this one.
