Florence Knight is a British chef and newspaper columnist, best known for her work at the restaurant Polpetto in London. She has also written for both ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''.

Career

Florence Knight grew up near

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. She was the second youngest of five siblings. Knight initially studied at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...

, but she changed career paths following the death of her father and trained at Leith's School of Food and Wine. She began working in professional kitchens at the age of 19. She began working for

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Food Guid ...

, first at

Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons ("Four Seasons Manor", a.k.a. Le Manoir) is a luxury hotel-restaurant in the village of Great Milton near Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England. It is situated in a 15th-century manor house, near a church that was v ...

and then as a

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; feminine 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, bistros, restaurants, bakeries, b ...

at his Diamond Club within the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a association football, football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. ...

. She was then hired as

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 ...

for Polpetto, located in

The French House, Soho The French House is a pub and dining room at 49 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was previously known as the ''York Minster'', but was informally called "the French pub" or "the French house" by its regulars. It sells more Ricard than anywhere els ...

. The restaurant was intended to be the smaller, more casual version of the restaurant Polpo with the same menu. However, over time, Knight convinced owners Russell Norman and Richard Beatty to let her modify the menu, which was Venetian. The restaurant closed on 26 May 2012, aiming to reopen in newer, larger premises by the end of the year. During the hiatus, she worked on her first cookbook ''One: A Cook and Her Cupboard''. Knight returned to Polpo when it reopened in the new location, and continued to work there until 2015 late into her first pregnancy. During her maternity leave, she worked as a columnist for ''

''. Knight was later named as the official ''

'' chef in May 2015, replacing the departing Gizzi Erskine. After the birth of Knight's second child, she began to look for a location for her own restaurant.

Personal life

Knight owns two dogs, a

cockapoo The cockapoo, also known as a cockerpoo (both portmanteaus of ''cocker spaniel'' and ''poodle'') or a spoodle, is a dog crossbreed bred from the Cocker Spaniel and the Poodle, most commonly the Miniature Poodle. History The cockapoo was first ...

and a

dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: 'badger dog'), also known as the wiener dog or sausage dog, badger dog, doxen and doxie, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, with varie ...

poodle The Poodle, called the in German () and the in French, is a breed of water dog. The breed is divided into four varieties based on size, the Standard Poodle, Medium Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle, although the Medium Poodle is no ...

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

. She married Beatty, and together they have two children. Knight was diagnosed with

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

as a child.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Florence Living people British women chefs British chefs British cookbook writers British columnists Writers with dyslexia British writers with disabilities British women columnists Year of birth missing (living people) British women food writers Writers from Surrey