Chef
Michel Roux on re-making childhood memories
It would be understandable for Michel Roux to look back a little wistfully when leaving such a significant part of his life behind, but his latest project with the Langham, London, Chez Roux at the Langham, has seen him look beyond Le Gavroche to his childhood in Kent. He grew up on the Fairlawne estate in Shipbourne, where Albert Roux worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family, and he has based the menu on food memories made back then. “I would watch dad cook for the family,” he
explains. “He would cook some British dishes because it was a very British family, but also some French classics: there were things like Welsh rarebit, lamb chops and English puddings with summer fruit, but he would also cook some very French classics, which the family thoroughly enjoyed, so it was a wonderful time. “One of the first dishes we decided
on at Chez Roux was roast lobster with garlic butter, fries and béarnaise sauce and I just love it. I think it’s one of those dishes you can’t get enough of. We’re going for British classics combined with traditional French techniques.”
Are there any pieces you wish you’d kept? There’s a huge attachment to the painting of the Gavroche urchin behind the bar. [The res- taurant takes its name from Gavroche, a fic- tional character from the novel Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo, whose name translates as The Urchin] because it had been there since 1967, as well as some of the other artwork I curated over the years and the Le Gavriche sign. But would you keep them forever? I have a sneaky feeling I know who bought the painting and I’m pretty sure it’s gone to a good home.
You ran the restaurant for 34 years, which is longer than your father, and there was a great outpouring of affection when you announced its closure. Did you at any point think you’d made the wrong decision? No regrets. I’d spoken to [my daughter] Emily and Diego [Ferrari, who opened Notting Hill restaurant Caractère together] if they were interested in running it, but they want to go on their own journey, which is fabulous. I’m helping them out with various events and stuff like that, which is great. I pondered a management buyout but I
wanted to keep control. I had lots of offers of silly money to buy the business and the name, but I just couldn’t do that – it would be like selling my right arm. It’s too precious and the last thing I want is for a big financier or multi- billionaire to buy it and suddenly roll it out in every city all over the world. That just wouldn't sit comfortably with me and I know it wouldn’t have sat comfortably with the old man.
6 | The Caterer | July 2024
We did speak at length with my dad about
the future and I know he would have been comfortable with Le Gavroche closing in the manner that it did.
Was it a natural end to the business because of work-life balance or was it just too tough to continue in the current environment? Work-life balance was definitely part of my decision to close. I sometimes call it regain- ing control, because up until recently Le Gav- roche was in control of me and my life. Now I’m in control of Le Gavroche. It has taken a huge weight off my shoul-
ders and I’m not working every evening now, which is great. I’ve done events, such as Chel- tenham, Newmarket, Epsom, Wimbledon, the Langham, three hotels in Scotland and my work for Compass before anyway, so I’ve not added any more work except for Le Gavroche at Sea with Cunard on the Queen Mary and Queen Anne, but I’m still bloody busy.
Will the Le Gavroche name live on? I’m keeping the business running and we’re doing pop-ups and events through the Chez Roux company, too. We have Le Gavroche at Wimbledon as well as a big restaurant called the Lawn – they both sold within minutes. I’ll be tak-
The painting of the Urchin
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