Michel Roux OBE | |
|---|---|
 Michel Roux in 2008 | |
| Born | (1941-04-19)19 April 1941 Charolles, France |
| Died | 11 March 2020(2020-03-11) (aged 78) Bray, Berkshire, England |
| Culinary career | |
Rating
| |
Previous restaurants
| |
Awards won
| |
Michel Roux,OBE ([mi.ʃɛlʁu]; 19 April 1941 – 11 March 2020), also known asMichel Roux Snr., was a Frenchchef andrestaurateur working in Britain. Along with his brotherAlbert, he openedLe Gavroche, which subsequently became the first threeMichelin starred restaurant in Britain andThe Waterside Inn, which was the first restaurant outside France to hold three stars for 25 years.
Roux followed his brother into becoming apastry chef and again to England in order to open their first restaurant. The pair were described as the "godfathers of modern restaurant cuisine in the UK" and Roux was inducted into several Frenchorders, and received two lifetime achievement awards from different publications. He was decorated during a period of National Service for France during the 1960s.
He founded theRoux Brothers Scholarship along with Albert in 1984, and worked as a consultant for companies such asBritish Airways andCelebrity Cruises over the years. After he and his brother split the business in 1986, Roux took the Waterside Inn, which he handed over to his son,Alain, in 2002. He remained an activefood writer and appeared on television shows such asSaturday Kitchen,MasterChef and the Roux family-centric seriesThe Roux Legacy, and on theWoman's Hour programme onBBC Radio 4.[1]
Michel Roux was born on 19 April 1941 inCharolles,Saône-et-Loire, in a room above his grandfather'scharcuterie[2] (a delicatessen specializing in meat products). He moved to Paris with his family after the war, where his father Michel set up his own charcuterie, after not taking over the family business in Charolles. His father gambled away all of the family's money, and the shop was closed to prevent it from goingbankrupt. By the time Roux turned ten, his father had left the family and was not heard from again.[3]
Roux's older brotherAlbert had already become a patissier (pastry chef), and Roux followed him into this field at the age of fourteen. He became an apprentice toCamille Loyal inBelleville, working seventy-hour weeks. Roux's tasks at thepâtisserie included making up to sixtygalettes des rois over the course of three days forEpiphany. Albert found Roux further employment as his apprenticeship ended. As Albert was working at the British Embassy in Paris as asous chef, Roux joined him there as the pastry chef for the Embassy. He moved on from there to become a chef inPhilippe de Rothschild's service, while Albert moved to England to work there.[3]
Between 1960 and 1962, Roux served hisFrench National Service. He was first stationed at thePalace of Versailles, but was later posted overseas inBéchar, Algeria. He was awarded theMédaille commémorative des opérations de sécurité et de maintien de l'ordre en Afrique du Nord.[4]
Roux nearly decided to give up cooking to become anopera singer,[5] but instead followed Albert to London, despite not being able to speak English. He would later recall that people thought he was mad for travelling there as he considered the state of English cooking at the time to be horrific.[3]
In 1967 the brothers opened their first restaurant,Le Gavroche atLower Sloane Street in London.[3] The opening party was attended by celebrities such asCharlie Chaplin andAva Gardner. For the following week, Chaplin was reportedly shuttled across London so he could eat there.[6] In 1972 the brothers opened a second restaurant, theWaterside Inn, inBray, Berkshire,[3] and launched a catering business.[7]
In 1974, whenMichelin stars were first awarded in the UK, Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn both won a star, and when a number of restaurants won two Michelin stars for the first time in 1977, both Roux restaurants were among them. Le Gavroche moved to a new location inMayfair in 1982, and in the same year became the first restaurant in the UK to be awarded three Michelin stars. The same rating for the Waterside Inn followed in 1985, but Le Gavroche went back down to two stars in 1993 and did not regain the three star level before it closed in 2024. In 2010, the Waterside Inn became the first restaurant outside France to have held three Michelin stars for a period of 25 years.[8][9][10]
TheRoux Brothers Scholarship was founded by Albert and Michel in 1984. It is an annual competition to select a single chef to send out as an apprentice.[7] The first winner wasAndrew Fairlie, and winners over the years have includedSat Bains (1999) and Simon Hulstone (2003).[11]
In 1986 the brothers split their restaurant business between them, following a disagreement over the direction that their joint business should take; Albert took Le Gavroche, while Michel took the Waterside Inn.[7] Michel was a consultant toBritish Airways for twenty years between 1983 and 2003, and forCelebrity Cruises since 1990. The Roux brothers' catering company was purchased byCompass Group in 1993, with Albert retained as a consultant.[7]
Roux's son,Alain Roux, currently runs the Waterside Inn in Bray, having taken over as chef patron in 2002.[7][12]
In July 2008, Roux announced that he would move permanently toCrans-Montana, Switzerland, citing concerns about the state of public safety in Britain. He also owned a vineyard and house on theCote d'Azur in France.[13]
Since 2014, Roux worked with British baking company, Bakedin, as a consultant reviewing and approving all recipes.[14]
Roux spoke out against entertainment-type cooking shows such as the 1990s cooking gameshowCan't Cook, Won't Cook, saying that "The way these people handle food is a crime. They don't even know the basics. Little attention is paid to detail. Instead, they are intent on having a giggle and a joke. They can do this without involving food."[15] The Roux brothers had aBBC television show,At Home with the Roux Brothers, in the early eighties.[16]
Together with his brother Albert, Roux appeared onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs on 26 October 1986.[17] TheGood Food channel aired a five-part series entitledThe Roux Legacy in January 2012, which featured both brothers, along with their sons Michel Jr. and Alain. Roux had also appeared as a guest judge onMasterChef: The Professionals, alongside his nephew Michel Jr,[18] and onSaturday Kitchen alongside his son Alain.[19]
Roux and his brother have been called the "godfathers of modern restaurant cuisine in the UK" byhospitality industry magazineCaterer and Hotelkeeper, whileThe Observer Food Monthly described him as "perhaps the finest pastry chef this country has ever had" when he was awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.[20] Roux had previously won the Lifetime Achievement award fromTatler magazine in 2008.[21] In a poll of UK chefs carried out byCaterer and Hotelkeeper magazine in 2003, the Roux brothers were voted the most influential chefs in the country, and in 2004 Michel Roux was voted theAA Chef's Chef.[7]
Many well known chefs have been trained by one or the other of the Roux brothers, with Michel estimating in 2010 that "Half of the Michelin star-holders in Britain come from either my brother's kitchen or my kitchen".[22] These have includedGordon Ramsay,Marco Pierre White,[22] andPierre Koffman.[23]
Roux was awarded theMeilleur Ouvrier de France en Pâtisserie in 1976. He was a member of severalorders in France. In 1987, he was inducted into theNational Order of Merit as a Chevalier (knight), and into theMérite agricole as an officer. In 1990 he was made a Chevalier in theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2004 theLegion of Honour followed. Outside France he was made an honoraryOfficer of the Order of the British Empire in 2002, and was made anhonorary Doctor of Culinary Arts by theUniversity of Rhode Island in the same year.[4]
Michel Roux was the brother ofAlbert Roux. Michel had a son namedAlain Roux, while Albert's son is also namedMichel Roux.[24] When Alain was ten years old, Roux and his wife divorced, with his wife taking British-born Alain and his two sisters to France. Alain would visit during the school holidays and work with Michel in the kitchens, and decided at the age of fourteen that he wanted to become a chef like his father.[5]
Roux met his second wife (1984–2017)[25] Robyn Joyce, after being set up on a blind date with her by former apprentice Leigh Stone-Herbert inSydney, Australia.[26] The relationship has been credited with opening the door to Australian chefs being trained by the Roux brothers.[22]
Michel Roux died on the night of 11 March 2020, at home inBray, Berkshire, aged 78, following a history ofidiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.[27][28]
