Great British Menu 2020 chefs: Steve Groves, London and south east heat

Steve Groves is the head chef of Roux at Parliament Square in London

The chef originally wanted to be a fireman and chose to go to catering college until he was old enough to apply, but fell in love with cooking and never looked back.

Upon finishing college, Steve went to Maryland in the US, braving the tough kitchen climate but enjoying the challenge nonetheless. He then moved to Bournemouth and Poole to cook but didn't feel he was cooking consistently at a high enough level, so he moved to London.

 

 

 

 

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Delighted to be competing in the London and south east heat of @greatbritishmenu a competition I've always enjoyed watching and always hoped to one day take part in. The childrens literature brief is a great one and one I'm sure everyone can relate to. . . . . #chefs #greatbritishmenu #gbm #cooking #worldbookday @gbchefs

A post shared by Steve Groves (@stevegroveschef) on Mar 4, 2020 at 9:53am PST

During his time in London, he was head chef at Launceston Place. In 2009, he entered and won MasterChef: The Professionals.

Steve currently works with renowned chef Michel Roux Jr. whom he met when he took part in MasterChef: The Professionals - with Roux as one of the judges. Steve has an impressive culinary history, having worked at Le Gavroche, Buckingham Palace, The Ledbury and The Greenhouse before joining Roux at Parliament Square in 2010, where he was promoted to the position of head chef three years later. 

Food style

"It's based on classical foundations with a modern interpretation. Catering college was my first introduction to classical cooking, where we were taught from a lot of Roux books and learned about French classics. We learned about making lots of different sauces, which you can then do your own derivatives of. Once you know the basics, you can then build on these classics."