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 trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...

, best known for presenting

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''Cooking It'' as well as appearing in ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV. History 2002–2003 After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, th ...

'' on

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

. 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 Le Gavroche (''The Urchin'') is a restaurant at 43 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. It was opened in 1967 by Michel and Albert Roux at 61 Lower Sloane Street, its premises until 1981. Albert's son Michel Roux Jr is the current chef patr ...

Chez Nico Chez may refer to: * Anthony Chez (1872-1937), American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator * Chez Reavie (born 1981), American golfer * Chez Hotels, an American chain of franchised hotels * CHEZ-FM, a Cana ...

and

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the '' enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White becam ...

’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 fast-food fare. The chain ...

.BBC: Chef biogs
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Career

In 1990, 19-year-old Tanaka's first apprenticeship was at

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. In most kitchens, however, the chef de partie is t ...

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 in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef, usually the more hands on manager with regards to training staff and organising the kitchen. Duties and functions The sous-chef has many re ...

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 A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef i ...

of the Renaissance London

Chancery Court Hotel Rosewood London, formerly Chancery Court, is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, England. It is located at 252 High Holborn in the Covent Garden neighbourhood of the West End. History The building comprises four blocks: the central block was desi ...

'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 ''s ...

. 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 stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of ...

, 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 ''

'', UKTV's ''Great Food Live'', ITV's ''Saturday Cooks'', and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

's ''Food Poker'' as a resident chef in 2007. He is currently a regular fixture on UKTV's ''

Market Kitchen ''Market Kitchen'' is a British cookery television programme, made by Optomen, that premiered on the Good Food channel in 2007. Presented by Rachel Allen, Amanda Lamb, Matt Tebbutt, Tom Parker Bowles and Matthew Fort, the programme concentrat ...

'', 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