Birthday: 23 May 1960
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Michel Roux Jr was born in Kent in 1960 to his father, chef Albert Roux, and his mother Monique and named after his uncle Michel Roux. At the point he was born, his father was working as a private chef for Peter Cazalet, but by the age of seven his father and uncle had opened an, at that point, relatively unknown restaurant in London called Le Gavroche.
Having been surrounded by food since a very young age, at the age of 16 Roux decided that he wanted to follow in footsteps of his father and uncle, and took the decision to leave school to undertake a two-year pastry apprentice under Henri Hellegouarch in Paris. After this, at the age of just 18, he had the opportunity to work as a commis chef in Alain Chapel's three Michelin-starred Mionay restaurant. He has, more recently, described Chapel as one of his biggest mentors.
After serving his military service at the Elysée Palace working the kitchens, Roux worked in the kitchens of various other top Parisian restaurants before returning to the UK to work in the family restaurants. By this point his father and uncle ran both The Waterside Inn in Bray and Le Gavroche both of which had three Michelin stars. Finally, in 1991 he took over the kitchen at Le Gavroche and began slightly changing the style of cooking to make it his own.
Roux has continued to manage Le Gavroche for over 30 years now while also becoming a familiar face on British TV and writing a number of cookbooks. He and his wife Giselle have a daughter called Emily who is has continued the trend by also becoming a chef, running her own restaurant in Notting Hill called Caractère.
Michel Roux Jr continues to be a huge name in the British culinary world, and along with his cousin Alain has ensured the Roux name will still live on in Michelin star kitchens for a while to come.