The man who trained half of Britain's Michelin-starred chefs
In short: Michel Roux arrived in London without knowing a word of English, viewing the local cuisine as horrific. Despite this, he revolutionized the British food scene, training half of the country's Michelin-starred chefs and establishing the first three-star restaurants in the United Kingdom through rigorous technical mastery and traditional apprenticeship.
Often described as the UK's 'godfathers of modern restaurant cuisine', the Roux brothers had a massive impact; by 2010, Michel suggested that 50% of Britain's Michelin-starred chefs learned under them. This lineage includes heavyweights like Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White.
Their rise was marked by historic milestones. The UK's first three-star Michelin restaurant was Le Gavroche, which earned this distinction in 1982. The Waterside Inn reached this same status in 1985, later becoming the first non-French eatery to maintain three stars for 25 years, a milestone reached in 2010. Despite a business split in 1986 over the direction of their joint ventures, the brothers maintained a legacy of excellence that spanned decades.
Roux's journey began in a charcuterie shop in France, where he started as a pastry apprentice at age fourteen, working seventy-hour weeks. Such a solid background resulted in high honours, such as the 2004 Legion of Honour and the 1976 Meilleur Ouvrier de France en Pâtisserie. Beyond the kitchen, he shaped the industry through the Roux Brothers Scholarship, founded in 1984 to send apprentice chefs on training, and served as a consultant for major entities like British Airways and Celebrity Cruises.
The brothers' impact was not just about elite dining but also about institutionalizing culinary standards. Roux was a vocal critic of "entertainment-type" cooking shows, arguing that they prioritized jokes over the fundamental basics of food handling. He balanced this high-standard advocacy with public service, serving in the French National Service in the 1960s and later receiving the Order of the British Empire in 2002.
Even his personal life intersected with his professional reach; his marriage to Robyn Joyce in 1984 is credited with opening doors for Australian chefs to receive training from the Roux brothers. He eventually passed the reins of the Waterside Inn to his son, Alain, in 2002, ensuring the continuation of a culinary dynasty that transformed the British gastronomic landscape.
Roux passed away in 2020 at the age of 78, leaving behind a legacy that moved from the humble charcuterie rooms of Charolles to the pinnacle of international gastronomy. His career serves as a masterclass in the transition from traditional apprenticeship to global influence, proving that technical mastery—the "basics" he so fiercely defended—is the prerequisite for true culinary artistry.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Michel Roux
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