Emily Watkins is a British chef at The Kingham Plough

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 ...

restaurant in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, having previously worked in Florence and at

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 ...

. She was one of the winners of 2014's season of 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 ...

''.

Career

Emily Watkins was interested in cooking from an early age, because of a love of eating food. Her mother ran a country house hotel in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, where Watkins would help out on occasion along with her sisters. However, she was steered away from pursuing cooking professionally, instead going to University and afterwards working in an office for six months. She left, and travelled to Italy where she decided to follow up on her dreams of becoming a chef. She travelled, hoping to convince someone to take on a staff member with no experience, eventually landing a role in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

at Ristorante Beccofino. Initially as a front of house worker, who also spent two days per week in the kitchen, she was moved fully into a chef role after two months. Within two years, she had become a junior

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

and had become fluent in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. In 2002, she moved back to England where she worked at

under

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 ...

on the sauce section. It was at this point that the restaurant was awarded a third

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 ...

and was named the Best Restaurant in the World. She left in 2005, having suffered a hip injury from standing all day, becoming a private chef in London. Two years later she moved to

, where her sister told her that a local

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, The Plough Inn, was for sale. It was there at the age of 28 that she opened her own restaurant along with business partner Adam Dorrien Smith, called The Kingham Plough. She uses local ingredients, and serves twists on well known

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

dishes. It has won several awards, including being awarded three rosettes by

The Automobile Association AA Limited, trading as The AA, is a British motoring association. Founded in 1905, it provides vehicle insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans, motoring advice, road maps and other services. The association demutualised in 1999 ...

and was named ninth in

Estrella Damm Estrella Damm (, ) is a lager beer brewed in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It has existed since 1876, when August Küntzmann Damm founded his brewery in Barcelona, and is the flagship beer of S.A. Damm, a prominent brewery in the city. The brand ...

's list of the top 50

gastropubs 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 coin ...

in the UK in 2016. In 2019, she sold the restaurant to new owners Matt and Katie Beamish. She competed in the 2014 season of

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's ''

'' competition, reaching the final where she was chosen to serve her

fish course A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish ...

"Fight them on the beaches" at

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in honour of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

centenary. The dish had been inspired by both of her grandfathers, one of which had worked at the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

, while the other was stationed on the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

HMS ''Valiant'' and was later a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Personal life

Watkins has four children with her husband Miles Lampson. After fellow chef

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. ...

questioned the ability for female chefs to both work and have children, Watkins said:

Although there are times when my husband would say that I've put my job before my family, I'm happy with my career. I don't think I could put any more into it or take any more out of it. I always wanted to be a chef and I always wanted to be a mum, but the business was my baby and I'd never missed a serving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Emily Living people People from Dorset British women chefs English television chefs Year of birth missing (living people)