Raymond Blanc | |
|---|---|
 Blanc at the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show | |
| Born | (1949-11-19)19 November 1949 (age 75) NearBesançon |
| Children | 2 |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | French |
Current restaurant(s) | |
Award(s) won | |
| Website | raymondblanc |
Raymond BlancOBE (born 19 November 1949) is a Frenchchef. Blanc is the chef atLe Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant inGreat Milton,Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has twoMichelin stars and scored 9/10 in theGood Food Guide. He is entirely self-taught,[1] and has taught or employed chefs includingHeston Blumenthal,[2]John Burton-Race,[3]Michael Caines,[4]Paul Liebrandt,[5] andMarco Pierre White.[6]
Blanc was born nearBesançon, the capital of theFranche-Comté region in eastern France, betweenBurgundy and theJura mountains. He grew up inSaône, a village just east of there.
While his two sisters were taught to cook by the influential Maman Blanc, his father taught Blanc and his two brothers to work in the kitchen garden. His father gave him a colander and foraging map for his 10th birthday, and what he collected his mother taught him to cook.[7]
Training as a waiter, Blanc worked at theMichelin-starredLe Palais de la Bière in Besançon. In 1972 he was fired for upsetting the head chef (Blanc had offered him advice on how to cook); however, the manager knew of a job in England.[7] Not speaking English well enough to survive without a notepad, he was dispatched toThe Rose Revived inNewbridge, Oxfordshire, arriving three days after landing atDover in hisRenault 5 Gordini. Blanc married the owner's daughter Jenny, and the couple had two sons.[7]
Before striking out on his own in 1977, Blanc worked for a time under chef patron André Chavagnon, who had opened a French restaurant, La Sorbonne, inOxford High Street in 1966.[citation needed] In 1977, the Blancs openedLes Quat' Saisons in a row of modern shops inSummertown, Oxford: "We mortgaged the house, owed 18 further people, and opened in a corridor between a lingerie shop andOxfam". An overnight success, he won "Egon Ronay Guide Restaurant of the Year", two Michelin stars and a host of other distinctions.[7]
In 1981, Blanc openedLa Maison Blanc, a chain of boulangeries and pâtisseries that also contain cafès. There were 14 branches of Maison Blanc across the country, including several in London and one in Oxford. Maison Blanc cakes were also available nationwide inWaitrose supermarkets.[8] The chain was closed in 2017 by its owners,Kout Food Group.[9]
In 1983, Blanc purchased a manor-house in the Oxfordshire village ofGreat Milton, where he openedLe Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a country house hotel and double Michelin starred restaurant. Awarded five AA stars and with a score of 19/20 from the French guide Gault Millau, Le Manoir describes itself as "one of the ultimate gastronomic destinations in the country".[10]
Blanc opened Le Petit Blanc, the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, in Oxford in June 1996. Blanc's aim was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom. His desire was to create and serve food that can be enjoyed by everyone – "from the time-conscious business person to those looking for a welcoming family restaurant".[citation needed] Blanc suffered two mini strokes when he was 42, believed to have been brought on by stress and overwork.[11]
In June 2003, after nearly losing the chain to his ex-wife Jenny as part of his divorce settlement,[7] the four Le Petit Blanc Brasseries (now known as Brasserie Blanc) inBirmingham (which closed in 2008),Cheltenham, Manchester and Oxford became part of the Loch Fyne Restaurant Group portfolio. Blanc maintains a share in the business, and continues to be involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants. Since 1996, Raymond has opened the following branches of Brasserie Blanc:[12]
In 2012 Blanc became the president of theSustainable Restaurant Association,[18] and the Culinary Director forEurostar.[19] In March 2013, Raymond Blanc made the news with Mayor of LondonBoris Johnson, to publicise a scheme to get young people into the food and hospitality industry. Blanc took on twenty-one apprentices across the Brasserie Blanc Restaurants.[20]
Blanc is one of the patrons of theChildren's Food Festival, which was held on theNorthmoor Trust Estate in south Oxfordshire in June 2009.[21] In 2014 Blanc andKate Humble presentedKew on a Plate, a 4-part television series demonstrating the garden growth and preparation of several vegetable dishes.[22]
During the fourth series ofThe Great British Bake Off, Blanc made personal attacks against the contestantRuby Tandoh in online comments. He derided her for being thin which he claimed indicated she must not truly love baking or cooking. He also criticized her for crying, which he called “female tears” and portrayed her crying as an attempt to manipulate the judges.[23] Tandoh defended herself with an article inThe Guardian and reflected on the anger andmisogyny in online commentary about the show and responded to Blanc’s comments directly. Blanc apologized for his comments, which became controversial. He described himself as a "grumpy Frenchman" to explain his behavior.[24][25]
Blanc has taught or employed chefs and restaurateurs including:
Blanc has made numerous appearances on many major television stations, during prime time viewing, in the UK. These include his own seriesFood & Drink in 1987,Take Six Cooks in 1986 andMasterchef in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1998, as well asThe Restaurant, a BBC 2 series hosted by Blanc where nine couples competed to win their own restaurant.
Blanc was a featured chef onGreat Chefs television, appearing inGreat Chefs of the World.[27]
On 13 January 2007, he appeared onSaturday Kitchen. In the Omelette Challenge, he finished last because he took the longest to cook an omelette. However, he was nudged up a few places byJames Martin, right aboveKen Hom, as Blanc produced a black truffle out of his pocket and garnished the finished omelette with truffle shavings.
In summer 2007, aBBC promotion for his new reality TV programmeThe Restaurant was shown on UK television. (The show is known toBBC America viewers in the US asLast Restaurant Standing). The promo showed a group of well-dressed diners in a slow-motion food fight, to aGonzales backing track. The show was part of BBC Two's autumn season in 2007 and returned, with minor changes to the format, in 2008. In 2009,The Restaurant returned to BBC Two in a low-budget format. This season was much criticised for the poor standard of contestants, for neglecting the successful elements of previous series, and for Blanc choosing as the winner a team without any discernible culinary ability outside of making cocktails.
Blanc also made a guest appearance on the BBC sitcomMiranda in episode 5 of the third series.
Blanc has two sons, Olivier and Sebastien.[31] Blanc lives in Oxford with long-term partner Natalia Traxel.[32] In 2008 he received an honoraryOBE.[33]
