In this first half, we’re taking a look back over January to June where our post popular pieces range from the first female head chef at the Savoy Grill, to AA Rosettes, to dry aged meat.
Jason Atherton and Heston Blumenthal among UK's most influential people
Kicking off our list is the release of the 2015 Debrett’s 500 most influential people in the UK list, which included 20 people in the food and drink category. Nine of these were chefs, including Jason Atherton and Heston Blumenthal
Watch Jason cooking scallops, pigeon, John Dory and chocolate and banana dishes:
Kim Woodward Appointed Savoy Grill’s first female head chef
Number nine on our list is the news that Kim Woodward was appointed head chef of the Gordon Ramsay Group’s Savoy Grill, making her the first female head chef there in its 126 year history.
After seven years as head chef at Michelin starred restaurant Morston Hall, Richard Bainbridge left to pursue a new venture in March, opening his own restaurant in Norwich city centre.
Next on the list: after the announcement that Monica was leaving Le Gavroche after 12 years, we spoke to her about her future plans, working with such iconic chefs and being a part of the Roux family.
The Burlington Restaurant awarded four AA Rosettes
Popular this year was the announcement that the Burlington Restaurant at The Devonshire Arms was the only restaurant to receive four AA Rosettes for 2015.
Here Adam cooks duck liver, Lobster and strawberry dishes:
In the middle of our countdown is our Featured Chef from March, Pierre Koffmann. Pierre is most famous for his three Michelin starred restaurant La Tante Clare. The French chef moved to England in 1970 because of his love for rugby, and quickly found himself working for the Roux brothers. This feature includes videos of Pierre talking about his passion for cooking and then creating three dishes from his menu.
As mentioned further up in our countdown, Monica announced in March that she would be leaving Le Gavroche after 12 years of working for the Roux family in order to pursue a new venture.
Next up is our insight into dry aged meat as part of National Butcher’s Week. We looked at what exactly dry aged meat is, how it’s different to other meat products and why it’s so expensive.
Number two on our countdown for the first half of the year is another of our featured chefs. Marcus Wareing is the head judge on MasterChef: The Professionals and the chef patron and owner of three restaurants including the two Michelin starred Marcus. The Lancashire born chef’s talent for cooking was discovered while he was at school in Stockport when a teacher complimented his pastry work. In this series of videos Marcus talks food, fine dining and Michelin stars, as well as creating three dishes from his menu.
In one of the videos Marcus cooks smoked egg with wild mushrooms and a lemon meringue dessert:
Is French magazine Le Chef right to challenge World’s 50 Best list?
The most popular piece on our site from January to June this year was a blog post looking into whether French magazine Le Chef was correct to challenge the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List after only five French restaurants were included. We spoke to Michel Roux Jr and Xavier Boyer from London L’Atelier about their views on the matter, as well as finding out what the World’s 50 Best editor William Drew thought about Le Chef’s view that French restaurants were intentionally being ignored by the list.
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