Albert & Michel Roux – 2006
Having put their fraternal bond to the ultimate test for four decades and come through with flying colours, the Roux brothers, Albert and Michel, can truly claim to be lifetime achievers. Having come to England to work as private chefs for two powerful families Ð Michel for Cecil de Rothschild, Albert for Major Cazalet, the Queen Mother’s horse trainer Ð they opened their own restaurant, Le Gavroche, in 1967, offering a style of French fine-dining yet to be found in England.
Originally located in Lower Sloane Street, Chelsea, Le Gavroche was ideally placed to attract London’s in-crowd and the quality of the Roux brothers’ cooking was certainly up to the job. It became the first British restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star, the first to gain two and the first to gain three.
Along the way, a number of renowned chefs passed under the tutelage of the Roux brothers: Pierre Koffman, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, to name but a few. But perhaps their greatest contribution to the industry has been the Roux Scholarship, launched in 1974, which has given countless talented chefs a vital launchpad, without which they may well have been lost to the industry.
Le Gavroche, 43 Upper Brook Street, London W1, England.
- Telephone: +44 (0)20 7408 0881
- Website: www.le-gavroche.co.uk