Obituary Hospitality industry pays tribute
to ‘true restaurateur’ Nico Ladenis The revered chef, who started his career in the industry at the age of 37, has been remembered for precision and perfectionism. James Stagg reports
T
he hospitality industry has shared moving tributes and poignant stories of
being inspired by Nico Ladenis following the announcement of his death. Ladenis, who passed away
at the age of 89, has been described as “the epitome of a true restaurateur and great chef” for his dedication to his craft and unwavering focus on consistency and precision. He was a self-taught chef who
won three Michelin stars and a rare 10 out of 10 in The Good Food Guide for his restaurant Nico at Ninety in London in the mid- 1990s, inspiring a generation of British chefs in the process. Ladenis was presented with
the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Cateys. On receiving the award he admitted he only started working in hos- pitality at the age of 37, having left the oil industry after being told he was “argumentative, aggressive, uncompromising and not a company man”. Ladenis was a chef-restaura-
teur who divided opinion. He inspired a generation of chefs who revered his precise cook- ing and uncompromising style. There were also the hugely loyal and enthusiastic band of customers who followed him from the moment he took to the stove at Chez Nico in Dulwich, south London, in 1973, to what became his crowning glory, Chez Nico at 90 Park Lane, 20 years later in the Grosvenor House hotel. However, he also earned notoriety for insisting that “the customer is not always right” – stemming from his insistence on giving short shrift to rude and pompous diners who pro- claimed “to all and sundry, both staff and other diners, that they are very important people”. The reality was that he was deeply thoughtful and totally
10 | The Caterer | 15 September 2023
Ladenis at the 2015 Cateys, where he received the Lifetime Achievement Award
immersed in achieving perfec- tion, and it became difficult for him to accept that others didn’t understand his approach. His daughter, Natasha Rob-
inson, said this attitude was designed to elevate the profes- sion in the eyes of the public. She added: “He gave chefs a
voice and made them restau- rateurs and business men, not just cooks. His statement ‘the customer is not always right’ and his run-ins with critics, was intended to show that we are professionals with standing and standards.” Born in 1934 in Tanzania
to Greek parents, Ladenis attended the University of Hull as an economics student. For the next 13 years he floun- dered, never fitting into the various corporations he worked for, but a spell in the advertis- ing department at The Sunday Times proved fortuitous, for it
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