Michel Roux Jr.
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Michel Albert Roux (born 23 May 1960) previously known as Michel Roux Jr., is an English-French two Michelin starred chef. He owns the London restaurant ''
Le Gavroche Le Gavroche (''The Urchin'') is a restaurant at 43 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. It was opened in 1967 by Michel and Albert Roux at 61 Lower Sloane Street, its premises until 1981. Albert's son Michel Roux Jr is the current chef pat ...
.''


Early life

Roux was born at
Pembury Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 Census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a ...
maternity hospital in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, whilst his father
Albert Roux Albert Henri Roux (8 October 1935 – 4 January 2021) was a French-British restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped tr ...
was working for the horse race trainer Major Peter Cazalet.


Apprenticeship and training

After leaving school at age 16, Roux undertook apprenticeship work with Master
Patissier A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels ...
Henri Hellegouarch in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. From summer 1979 until January 1980, he worked as a ''commis de cuisine'' at ''Le Gavroche'', under both his father and his uncle. He then spent two years as a ''commis de cuisine'' trainee under
Alain Chapel Alain Chapel (; 30 December 1937 – 10 July 1990) was a French chef, credited with being one of the originators of Nouvelle Cuisine. He earned three Michelin stars. Early life Chapel was born in Lyon, the son of Maître d' Charles and his wi ...
at his hotel and restaurant in
Mionnay Mionnay (; frp, Mionnê) is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Mionnay station has rail connections to Bourg-en-Bresse and Lyon. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 commu ...
, in the
Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...
region near
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
. After undertaking basic training with the
French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
, from February 1982 to March 1983 he served his
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...
at the Élysée Palace, working for both
Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...
and François Mitterrand. Having finished his military service, Roux then worked for four months in Paris: two months at
Charcuterie Charcuterie ( , also ; ; from french: chair, , flesh, label=none, and french: cuit, , cooked, label=none) is a French term for a branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, ''galantines'', ''ballo ...
Gérard Mothu in St-Mandé; and then two months at Boucherie Lamartine on the Avenue Victor-Hugo.


Career

Having served his apprenticeship and training mainly away from the Roux brothers' British business empire, he joined his uncle at the ''
Waterside Inn The Waterside Inn, located in Bray, Berkshire, England, is a restaurant founded by the brothers Michel and Albert Roux after the success of Le Gavroche. It is currently run by Michel's son, Alain. The restaurant has three Michelin stars, and in ...
'', in
Bray, Berkshire Bray, occasionally Bray on Thames, is a large suburban village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It sits on the banks of the River Thames, to the southeast of Maidenhead of which it is a suburb. The village is mentioned in th ...
in 1985, before working with his father at ''Le Gavroche'' from the April of the same year. He then worked in and managed the Roux brothers catering business for three years, before returning to ''Le Gavroche'' in 1990, the year the two brothers split their business down family lines. When his father retired in 1993, Michel Jr took over the world-famous restaurant. A food consultant to the Walbrook club since 2003, he also consults for the fine dining providers Restaurant Associates. Roux has also written several books, including ''Le Gavroche Cookbook''; ''The Marathon Chef''; and ''Matching Food and Wine'', which was named the best book on matching wine and food at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.


Media

Roux has made various television appearances, including on his friend Gordon Ramsay's ITV produced ''
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...
'', and as an expert judge on the BBC Two programme '' MasterChef: The Professionals'' (2008–13). In 2012 he appeared as a guest judge on ''
Masterchef South Africa ''MasterChef South Africa'' is the South African version of the television cooking game show franchise ''MasterChef''. It was originally filmed on the Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl, Western Cape and judged by Pete Goffe-Wood, Benny Masekwameng ...
''. From 2013 until 2014, Roux co-presented BBC Two's ''
Food and Drink ''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations. Histo ...
'' alongside Kate Goodman. In 2013, he appeared as one of the mentors in the series '' The Chef's Protege''. In March 2014, Roux announced that he was leaving the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
due to a conflict over his brand ambassadorship for Albert Bartlett
Rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
potatoes. In 2015, Roux returned to television and presented ''First Class Chefs'' for the Disney Channel and ''Kitchen Impossible with Michel Roux Jr'' for
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
. In April 2016 Roux stepped in as presenter on BBC's ''
Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV. History 2002–2003 After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, the ...
'' after the departure of James Martin who left after 10 years. Roux ruled himself out of becoming a full-time host.


Controversies

In November 2016, the ''Guardian'' reported that whilst Roux's restaurant made over £250,000 in profit in 2015, he was paying some of his chefs less than the minimum wage. A chef showed the ''Guardian'' journalist Robert Booth evidence that chefs typically put in over 65 hours of labour per week, only earning about £5.50 per hour. Work days began at 7am ending at 11.30pm, with only one hour break between lunch and dinner times, and sometimes as little as fifteen minutes for meal times. Booth's ''Guardian'' article noted that in response to the exposé, "Roux said ... he was 'embarrassed and sorry' after the ''Guardian'' revealed he was paying chefs as little as £5.50 per hour when they were working 68 hours per week." In late-2016, it was revealed that Roux was keeping servers' tips and service charge. In light of this, he vowed to "scrap tips and service charge", instead including them in the cost of a meal. This has garnered backlash from customers and critics alike, as it leaves the customer with no viable way of choosing how much to tip, and encourages the inference that the optional service charge is now mandatory.


Personal life

Roux is married to Giselle, who has worked in the restaurant business for many years and is the secretary at Le Gavroche. The couple have a daughter, Emily, who is also a chef. The Roux family lives in London. Roux is a rugby fan and an honorary member of Harlequins and attends most matches. He also likes Manchester United and
Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...
, and is a keen marathon runner, having run the
London marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...
twelve times to raise funds for the children's charity Visually Impaired Children Taking Action.


Publications

* ''Le Gavroche Cookbook'' (2001), London: W&N (Orion), * ''The Marathon Chef: Food for Getting Fit'' (2003), London: W&N (Orion), * ''Le Gavroche Cookbook: Ten Recipes from One of the World's Great Restaurants'' (2005), London: Phoenix, * ''Matching Food And Wine: Classic And Not So Classic Combinations'' (2005), London: W&N (Orion), * ''Michel Roux: A Life in the Kitchen'' (2009), London: W&N (Orion), * ''Cooking with The Master Chef: Food For Your Family & Friends'' (2010), London: W&N (Orion), * ''The French Kitchen: 200 Recipes From the Master of French Cooking'' (2013), London: W&N (Orion), * ''Le Gavroche Cookbook'' (2017), London: W&N (Orion), * ''Les Abats'' (2017), London: W&N (Orion), * ''The French Revolution: 140 Classic Recipes made Fresh & Simple'' (2018), (Seven Dials),


References


External links

*
Michel Roux's personal websiteMichel Roux's 2nd London Restaurant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roux, Michel 1960 births Living people People from Pembury English people of French descent French Army officers English chefs Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants British broadcasters BBC television presenters English television chefs British cookbook writers British food writers Roux family