Daniel Clifford (chef)
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Daniel Clifford (born 6 August 1973) is an English chef who is best known for his work at the two
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 ...
restaurant
Midsummer House Midsummer House is a restaurant located in Cambridge, England, on the bank of the River Cam. It is a Victorian house that was transformed into a restaurant in 1986. It won its first Michelin star in 2002, and a second in 2005. The chef patron is ...
. He was also named one of the winners of the 2012 and 2013 series of the BBC
television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
the ''
Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...
''. He was chef patron of a gastro pub in Little Dunmow, Essex, named The Flitch of Bacon, which held one Michelin star from 2018 to 2021. Daniel is married to his wife Alice and has five daughters and two stepsons.


Early life

Clifford was born 6 August 1973 in
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. His father is Tony Clifford and his mother is Denise Clifford, ''née'' Wynn. He attended Canterbury High School.


Career

Clifford was first employed in a restaurant in 1989 as a commis chef at the Howfield Manor Hotel in his home town of
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. He moved in 1992 to become the first commis chef at The Bell Inn in
Aston Clinton Aston Clinton is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, between the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union Canal. Surrounding towns i ...
, and became a demi-chef de partie at
Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is an English chef, restaurateur and television personality. In 1995 he became the youngest chef to earn three Michelin stars. He has trained chefs including Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsa ...
's
Box Tree ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost Sout ...
through 1993. He was chef de partie at Millers in
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...
, sous chef at Provence Restaurant in
Hordle Hordle is a village and civil parish in the county of Hampshire, England. It is situated between the Solent coast and the New Forest, and is bordered by the towns of Lymington and New Milton. Like many New Forest parishes Hordle has no vill ...
, and chef de partie at Jean Bardet Restaurant in
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
. He became a senior sous chef at Rascasse in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
in 1996, where he worked until being named head chef of his restaurant
Midsummer House Midsummer House is a restaurant located in Cambridge, England, on the bank of the River Cam. It is a Victorian house that was transformed into a restaurant in 1986. It won its first Michelin star in 2002, and a second in 2005. The chef patron is ...
in 1998. Clifford was awarded his second Michelin star at Midsummer House in the 2005 list. It was the only new restaurant to earn a second Michelin star that year, and became one of eleven restaurants in the UK and Ireland to be at that level of the Michelin Guide's scheme. He opened a
gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves food of high quality, with a nearly equal emphasis on eating and drinking. The term was coined in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. History The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coi ...
called "The Headley" in
Great Warley Great Warley (also known as Warley Abbess, Warley Magna, Warley Wallet or West Warley) is a village located south of Brentwood, Essex, England. Great Warley was formerly a parish, but today comes under the Warley ward in the Borough of Brentwood ...
, Essex, in May 2007. He acted as chef patron to the new venture, and hired Scott Wade as head chef to take charge of the day-to-day running of the pub to enable Clifford to continue working at Midsummer House. His main course of chicken and a sweetcorn egg accompanied by spinach with bacon and peas was the winning main course for the banquet in the 2012 series of the
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 ...
television show the ''
Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...
''. He sees his television work as a good source of publicity, but prefers to concentrate on working in the kitchen. He was also one of a number of chefs scheduled to cook at a
pop-up restaurant A pop-up restaurant is a temporary restaurant. These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals. Various other names have been used to describe the concept of settin ...
entitled
The Cube A cube is any regular, six-sided, three-dimensional solid object. Cube may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Cube Interactive, an interactive media company in Wales, UK Comics * Cosmic Cube, a fictional object in Marvel Comics Films * ...
on London's
South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...
during the summer in 2012. On 5 October 2015 Clifford was awarded the Chefs Chef of the Year at the 2015/16 AA awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel. He was praised for turning Midsummer House into one of the country's finest restaurants, while being an "inspiration to so many chefs at all levels". As of 2020, Daniel Clifford changed the menu at his restaurant, removing all plant-based options and ceasing to cater but for a handful of dietary restrictions. The chef said this would allow his team to work more efficiently, and focus on executing dishes to perfection. In 2021, the chef was a co-host on The Staff Canteen's Grilled podcast. In one episode featuring his fellow Great British Menu contestant, chef owner of Michelin-starred Loch Bay Restaurant on the Isle of Skye, Michael Smith, the chefs discussed the price of fine-dining food, arguing that the cost of ingredients and staff justifies the high cost. Comparatively, he said that a meal at Salt Bae's London restaurant, Nusr-Et, where it costs £630 for a steak, is not good value for money, calling chef and restaurateur Nusret Gökçe 'Mickey Mouse.'


Influences

He credits
Heston Blumenthal Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is an English celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. His restaurants include the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, a three- Michelin-star restaurant that was named the world's best by the Worl ...
and
Ferran Adrià Fernando Adrià Acosta (; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the El Bulli restaurant in Roses, Girona, Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world. He has often collaborated with his b ...
as influences, and experiments with
molecular gastronomy Molecular gastronomy is the Science, scientific approach of cuisine from primarily the perspective of chemistry. The composition (Structural formula, molecular structure), properties (mass, viscosity, etc) and transformations (chemical reaction ...
, leading to his restaurant
Midsummer House Midsummer House is a restaurant located in Cambridge, England, on the bank of the River Cam. It is a Victorian house that was transformed into a restaurant in 1986. It won its first Michelin star in 2002, and a second in 2005. The chef patron is ...
being nicknamed "The Fat Duckling" after Blumenthal's
The Fat Duck The Fat Duck is a fine dining restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, England, owned by the chef Heston Blumenthal. Housed in a 16th-century building, the Fat Duck opened on 16 August 1995. Although it originally served food similar to a French bi ...
. He also
forages Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's Fitness (biology), fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Optimal foraging theory, Foraging theory is a branch of behaviora ...
for ingredients. He also credits his time spent in France with chef Jean Bardet as teaching him the value of quality ingredients, and seeing
foie gras ; (, ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a Domestic duck, duck or Domestic goose, goose. According to French law, ''foie gras'' is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by ''gavage'' (force feeding). ''Foie gras'' i ...
in a different light.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Daniel Living people English chefs People from Canterbury 1973 births Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants