Jun Tanaka (born 18 November 1971Cowen, Ruth
"The Contender"
''The Guardian''. Friday 23 November 2001.) is an American-born Japanese-British television

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 ...

, best known for presenting

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 ...

's ''Cooking It'' as well as appearing in '' Saturday Kitchen'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. He was the third Grand Champion of the American competitive cooking show, '' Chopped''.

Early life and education

On 18 November 1971, Jun Tanaka was born in New York City, US, to a chemical engineer and a housewife. When he was seven in 1978, his family moved from New York City to England. In 1989, his parents returned to Japan while Tanaka and his older brother, an orthopaedic surgeon,The Staff Canteen
"Jun Tanaka Pearl Restaurant & Bar London"
''The Staff Canteen''. continued living in England. Armed with a list of restaurants from his father, Tanaka approached each to gain a position as an apprentice. At the top of the list were Le Gavroche, Chez Nico and

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 restaurant

Harvey's Harvey's is a fast food restaurant chain operating in Canada, with locations in every province except British Columbia. It serves hamburgers, poutine, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, and other traditional Canadian cuisine, Canadian fast-food ...

.BBC: Chef biogs
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Career

In 1990, 19-year-old Tanaka's first apprenticeship was at Le Gavroche under the Roux Brothers, and went on to work and train at Chez Nico and The Capital as

chef de partie A chef de partie, station chef, or line cook is a chef in charge of a particular area of production in a restaurant. In large kitchens, each chef de partie might have several cooks or assistants, sometimes referred to as demi-chefs, who operate i ...

under Philip Britten. He then worked at Les Saveurs as chef de partie under Joel Antunes for two years. He then worked at The Restaurant, Marco Pierre White, and The Oak Room as a

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 ...

under

, before moving to The Square as junior sous chef under Philip Howard and onto Chavot under Eric Chavot as sous chef. In 2004, Tanaka became the executive head chef of the Renaissance London Chancery Court Hotel's Pearl Restaurant and Bar, a fine dining establishment that specialises in French cuisine. In addition to his job as Pearl executive chef, Tanaka partnered with Notting Hill Brassierie's head chef Mark Jankel in 2009 to set up a venture using a street catering van, Street Kitchen, to produce and sell gourmet lunches, using 100% British produce, at various London locations. At the end of 2012, Jun left Pearl to open his own restaurant in central London. Named 'The Ninth', it opened in November 2015 in

Charlotte Street Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in central London. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the ' ...

. It was awarded a Michelin star in the 2017

Michelin Guide 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 star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

, which it has retained every year since.

Television and books

Tanaka hosted the

programme ''Cooking It'' in 2006, and has made appearances in BBC One's '' Saturday Kitchen'', UKTV's ''Great Food Live'', ITV's ''Saturday Cooks'', and

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 ''Food Poker'' as a resident chef in 2007. He is currently a regular fixture on UKTV's '' Market Kitchen'', and has made a regular appearance on ITV's ''Daily Cooks Challenge'' and BBC's ''MasterChef: the Professionals''. In 2009, Simon & Schuster published Tanaka's book "Simple to Sensational", which offers recipes and guidance for beginners in fine-dining cookery. In 2013, Tanaka won the Grand Finale of Chopped Champions, which pitted 16 previous Chopped Champions against each other for $50,000. He stated that his prize money would be invested in his new restaurant.

References

External links

''Cooking It'' official site

Interview with Jun Tanaka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Jun English chefs English people of Japanese descent American people of Japanese descent American expatriates in the United Kingdom Living people 1971 births