Anna Haugh (born 6 November 1980) is an Irish

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

, restaurateur and TV personality.

Biography

Born in Dublin, Haugh grew up in

Tallaght Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The central village area was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres. Up to th ...

. She attended Presentation Secondary School in

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is a middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6 and D6W postal districts. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Terenure was 17,972 as of the 2022 ce ...

and trained on a professional cookery course at the TU Dublin School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology in Dublin. She began her career in the city, with Derry Clarke of L'Ecrivain. Haugh then moved to London where she worked with Philip Howard, Shane Osborn and

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

. Haugh also worked with

Gualtiero Marchesi Gualtiero Marchesi (; 19 March 1930 – 26 December 2017) was an Italian chef, considered the founder of Italian '' nouvelle cuisine''. Biography Marchesi was born in Milan, Italy. His parents ran the hotel and restaurant "L'Albergo del Mercato" ...

in Paris. In May 2019, she founded the Myrtle Restaurant in Chelsea, London, named after

Myrtle Allen Myrtle Allen (13 March 1924 – 13 June 2018) was an Irish Michelin star-winning Chef#Chef de cuisine, head chef and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeats Room at Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, County Cork. Besides her career in cooking, s ...

, Irish

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

-winning

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef that manages multiple kitche ...

and co-founder of

Ballymaloe House Ballymaloe House () is a country house with a hotel and dining facilities, located in Shanagarry in County Cork, Ireland. Traces of a 15th century castle remain within its fabric. The Yeats Room of Ballymaloe is a restaurant, It is a fine ...

Media career

Haugh's first documented role in television was in

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's The Stress Test (2004) while working at Pied à Terre with Shane Osborn. She appeared as a guest judge on

Gordon Ramsey Gordon Ramsey (June 19, 1930 – November 5, 1993) was an American actor and singer, who was based in New York City. Early life Ramsey was born in Minneapolis, on June 19, 1930. Career After moving to New York in 1958, Ramsey made his acting ...

's U.S. show ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...

'' in 2013 and was a chef on

's ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...

'' presented by

Rylan Clark-Neal Ross Richard Clark (born 25 October 1988), commonly known as Rylan Clark, is an English broadcaster and television personality. He came to prominence as a contestant on the ninth series of the television talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2012, in ...

. Haugh co-presented two seasons of

's Royal Recipes with

Michael Buerk Michael Duncan Buerk (; born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's '' Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...

, has appeared as a guest judge on

Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with MasterChef (British TV series), the British version in July 1990. The show aims to discover the culinary talent of chefs of varying sk ...

with

John Torode John Douglas Torode (born 23 July 1965) is an Australian-British celebrity chef and TV presenter. He moved to the UK in the 1990s and began working at Conran Group's restaurants. After first appearing on television on ITV's ''This Morning ...

and

Gregg Wallace Gregg Allan Wallace (born 17 October 1964) is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur and writer. He is known for co-presenting ''MasterChef'', '' Celebrity MasterChef'' and '' MasterChef: The Professionals'' on BBC One and BBC Two. He has writte ...

and as a guest on

Sunday Brunch ''Sunday Brunch'' is a British television programme presented by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It is broadcast live on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings and features cookery and interviews with celebrity guests. Format The programme began on 25 Ma ...

with

Simon Rimmer Simon Peter Rimmer (born 5 May 1963) is an English celebrity chef, best known for his on-screen partnership with Tim Lovejoy. Early life Simon Peter Rimmer was born in Wallasey. Career Rimmer originally studied fashion and textile design, and ...

and

Tim Lovejoy Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He ...

. She has also appeared as a guest on Tastemade with Numra Siddiqui. In 2020 Anna competed in and won an episode of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Snackmasters ''Snackmasters'' is a BAFTA-nominated British television programme, presented by Fred Sirieix and Jayde Adams, and produced by Optomen Television and Channel 4. The programme was broadcast on Channel 4 and streams on All 4. The programme sees t ...

against

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

starred chef

Aktar Islam Aktar Islam (born 1980) is a multiple award-winning English Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur. He left the Lasan Group in 2016 to work on his new, flagship project, Opheem, and launched his now-closed Italian restaurant, Le ...

. Anna regularly appears on ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' (formerly Saturday Kitchen) is a British food television programme typically broadcast on Saturday mornings between 10:00 and 11:30 on BBC One. It is also available on BBC iPlayer. It is currently hosted by Matt Tebb ...

'' and is a resident chef on ''

Morning Live ''Morning Live'' is a magazine programme that airs on weekday mornings between 9:30 am and 10:45 am on BBC One. History ''Morning Live'' first broadcast on 26 October 2020 as a 40-part series to connect with viewers' real-life concerns and to o ...

'' with

Kym Marsh Kimberley Gail Marsh (previously Ryder, Lomas and Ratcliff; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer. In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television series ''Pop ...

and

Gethin Jones Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter. He was an active rugby union player while at Manchester Metropolitan University and, after graduation, he began his television career on Welsh language channel S4C a ...

. Haugh was the guest chef who set the dish challenges for the contestants on the

Celebrity Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a British competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as ''MasterChef Goes Large' ...

, in the 11th episode (Series 17) which was broadcast in September 2022. The contestants in the episode were

Lisa Snowdon Lisa Snowdon
7 May 2001, ''People'' (born Lisa Snawdon; 23 January 1972) is an English television and ...

, Kitty Scott-Claus,

Katya Jones Katya Jones (born Ekaterina Andreevna Sokolova; ; 12 May 1989) is a Russians, Russian dancer and choreographer. She is best known for being a professional dancer in the competition show ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which she won in 2017 with her ...

and

Ryan Thomas Ryan James Thomas (born 10 June 1984) is a British former actor. He is known for playing the role of Jason Grimshaw on ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 2000 until 2016. In 2018, he played Rafael Humphreys in Australian soap opera ''N ...

. In 2022, Haugh replaced

Monica Galetti Monica Galetti (née Faafiti, born 26 August 1975) is a Samoan-born New Zealand chef. She is a judge on the BBC competitive cooking programme '' MasterChef: The Professionals'' and was the chef proprietor of Mere in London before its closure. ...

as a judge on '' Masterchef: The Professionals,'' for the fifteenth series only. In March 2023, Anna was co-host of Grilled, a podcast by The Staff Canteen, where she interviewed a number of hospitality personalities including presenter Leyla Kazim and

Matt Tebbutt Matthew Charles Tebbutt (born 24 December 1973) is a British chef and television food presenter best known for presenting shows such as Channel 4's '' Food Unwrapped'' and ''Drop Down Menu'', the BBC's ''Saturday Kitchen'' and the Good Food chan ...

. In 2024, Haugh opened a wine bar called ''The Little Sister'' at the chef's ''Myrtle'' restaurant in London. In early 2025, Haugh presented a fifteen-part cookery series called ''Anna Haugh's Big Irish Food Tour'', which aired on

BBC One Northern Ireland BBC One Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is the Northern Irish variation of the UK-wide BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television ...

Inspirations

In 2023, during Series 5 Episode 1 of the Grilled podcast by The Staff Canteen, Anna revealed

was her favourite TV chef judge explaining that she was true to herself, and paved the way for women in the industry and high-end competitions. Explaining why Monica influenced her, Anna said: "It was big shoes to fill but she paved the way for a female judge to come in and it should not be something to be taken for granted."

Awards

In 2019, Haugh won Best International Chef award at the Food & Wine Ireland awards. Myrtle Restaurant, located on Langton Street,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

was awarded 3 AA Rosettes in 2021.

Books

* ''Cooking with Anna'' (

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, 2024)

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haugh, Anna 1980 births Irish chefs Living people