TV chef says he’s closing his Michelin-starred restaurant for ‘better work/life balance’
Michel Roux Jr. says he's closing the restaurant to spend more time with his family.
By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN
(CNN) — Chef Michel Roux Jr. has announced that his two-Michelin star London restaurant Le Gavroche will be closing its doors permanently in January.
In a statement released last week, the English-French TV personality said that he’d decided to shut the fine-dining institution, opened by his father Albert Roux and uncle Michel Roux Sr. 56 years ago, to spend more time with his family.
“I know this will come as a shock to many of you, so please know this decision has not been made lightly,” wrote Roux Jr., who has appeared in TV shows such as “Michel Roux’s French Country Cooking,” and Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” explaining that he wanted to “make time for a better work/life balance.”
“Le Gavroche means so much, not just to myself and the Roux family, but to the wider Gavroche team and you, our guests, who have become our family over so many years.”
He went on to explain that the end of the current lease on the establishment, located in Mayfair, had provided him with “the opportunity to assess and consider the future,” and he felt that now was the right time “to turn the page and move forward.”
End of an era
Roux Jr., who has been running the iconic restaurant since 1991, said that Le Gavroche would be closing on a high, and continues to be fully booked each week.
“I especially look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible over the next few months,” he added. “Let’s go out with a bang.”
Admitting that he had mixed emotions about the decision, Roux Jr. stressed that the restaurant would “live on” in the form of pop-up and over events.
Famed for signature dishes such as the Soufflé Suissesse, Le Gavroche, offers tasting menus, along with an extensive a la carte menu.
Named after a character in Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables,” it opened in Sloane Square back in 1968 and soon became the first UK restaurant to be awarded with a Michelin star, and the first to win a second.
In 1982, after moving to London’s Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, it became the first to be awarded three Michelin stars, which it held until 1993.
According to the restaurant’s official website, many up and coming chefs including Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Marcus Wareing, have “earned their stripes” at Le Gavroche in the more than five decades since it first launched.
“Le Gavroche has changed the face of the UK and London restaurant scene and its legacy is unmatched,” added Roux Jr.
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