Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons | |
---|---|
![]() Le Manoir in September 2006 | |
![]() | |
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1984 |
Owner(s) | Belmond |
Head chef | Raymond Blanc and Luke Selby |
Food type | French cuisine |
Dress code | Smart casual |
Rating | ![]() AA Rosettes ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Good Food Guide ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Street address | Great Milton |
City | Oxford |
County | Oxfordshire |
Postal/ZIP Code | OX44 7PD |
Country | United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°42′59″N1°05′31″W / 51.7163°N 1.0919°W |
Reservations | Yes |
Other information | Nearest train station: Haddenham & Thame Parkway |
Website | www.manoir.com |
Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons ("Four Seasons Manor", a.k.a. Le Manoir) is a luxury hotel-restaurant in the village of Great Milton near Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England. [1] It is situated in a 15th-century manor house, near a church that was visited by Oliver Cromwell, [2] In March 2014 the company owning the restaurant introduced a new brand name, Belmond and the hotel changed its name to "Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons". In December 2018 Belmond was acquired by LVMH.
The restaurant has two Michelin stars, as well as scoring 9/10 in the Good Food Guide. It is capable of serving 260 guests per day. [3] It is owned by LVMH (since acquiring Belmond Ltd in December 2018) and run by the leading French chef Raymond Blanc. [4] The executive chef is Luke Selby, having replaced Gary Jones who left the role in November 2022, after over 20 years. The head pastry chef is Benoit Blin. The gardens are used to grow fresh food for the restaurant. A helipad is available for clients.
The restaurant was used as a filming location in the BBC 2 television programme The Restaurant , where it has been used for challenges as well as Raymond Blanc's "room of truth". [5]
The restaurant kitchen has trained 34 Michelin starred chefs. Its basic training programs for its chefs lasts approximately 2.5 years, with each chef spending 6 months on each "section" in the kitchen. Chefs who stay longer than the initial 2.5 years of training go on to learn the management side of the business. [6]
Many notable chefs and restaurateurs were mentored by or worked for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, including:
Restaurant critic Jay Rayner visited Le Manoir for the first time in 2013. Whilst he described it as possibly the most expensive restaurant in Britain, he praised the set up including the kitchen garden. Regarding the food, he praised a "pitch-perfect" beetroot terrine, which was served with a horseradish sorbet quenelle. [19] He wondered at the skill involved in creating a dessert of poached meringue and fried apricots inside a globe of nougatine. He said that while he couldn't justify or excuse the expense, the meal was fabulous. [19]
Since June 2022, Le Manoir has subsidised a bus service between Great Milton and central Oxford. Oxford Bus Company route 46 links the village with central Oxford via Wheatley, Horspath and Cowley. Buses run hourly, seven days a week, from early morning until after midnight. [20] [21]
Chef! is a British situation comedy starring Lenny Henry that aired as twenty episodes over three series from 28 January 1993 to 30 December 1996 on the BBC. The show was created and primarily written by Peter Tilbury based on an idea from Lenny Henry and produced for the BBC by Henry's production company, Crucial Films.
Raymond Blanc OBE is a French chef. Blanc is the chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide. He is entirely self-taught, but has himself taught or employed other chefs including Heston Blumenthal, John Burton-Race, Michael Caines, Paul Liebrandt, and Marco Pierre White.
Heston Marc Blumenthal is an English celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. His restaurants include the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, a three-Michelin-star restaurant that was named the world's best by the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2005.
Great Milton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,042.
Michael Andrew Caines is an English chef born in Exeter, Devon.
The Cateys are a UK award ceremony for the hospitality industry, first held in 1984. They have been described as the hospitality industry's equivalent of the Oscars. Recipients are nominated, selected and awarded by the industry through The Caterer magazine.
The Restaurant is a British reality television series which is based on the Australian television show My Restaurant Rules, where a group of couples competes for the chance to set up a restaurant financially backed and personally supported by French chef Raymond Blanc. The winning couple was given their own restaurant to run. For the winners of the first series, the prize restaurant was in Oxfordshire, near Blanc's own Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. For the second series, it was in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
The first series of The Restaurant was broadcast in the United Kingdom from 29 August to 17 October in 2007. The programme aired on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 pm on BBC Two, over a total of fifteen episodes. It marked the start of a three-series run for the concept.
Elisha Carter is a British chef who appeared in the BBC television series Great British Menu in 2008. He is Head Chef at The Landau restaurant located in The Langham, London.
William Curley is a Scottish patissier and chocolatier. Curley is the owner of the London chocolate company William Curley Ltd., and has won the Academy of Chocolate's 'Britain's Best Chocolatier' Award four times. In 2012 William became a member of the prestigious pastry association Relais Desserts.
Éric Chavot is a French Michelin starred chef. He was working the head chef at the Bob Bob Cité and Bob Bob Ricard restaurants in London until January 2020, as well as the consultant chef at the Royal Albert Hall's Coda restaurant. Born in Arcachon, Gironde, Chavot was trained at the Boucanier, then at the Patio.
David Goodridge, is the Chef de Cuisine of the venerable Gaddi's restaurant at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel.
David Moore is a restaurateur based in the United Kingdom.
Paul Liebrandt is a British chef and restaurateur. He was the co-owner of Corton restaurant in New York City and the subject of the documentary film, A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt. Liebrandt is known for his daring cuisine, creativity and eccentric style, and has been awarded two Michelin stars. He previously worked at Atlas, Gilt and Papillon restaurants in New York, and in 2008 opened Corton.
James Knight-Pacheco is a television personality who has appeared in cooking shows on the BBC. Knight-Pacheco and Alasdair Hooper were the runners-up in Raymond Blanc's BBC Two programme The Restaurant. Blanc offered them both a job at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. In 2010, Knight-Pacheco and Hooper hosted a BBC Two series on event catering Out of the Frying Pan.
The Restaurant Marco Pierre White, also known as The Restaurant, Restaurant Marco Pierre White and later Oak Room Marco Pierre White, was a restaurant run by chef proprietor Marco Pierre White. The Restaurant was opened at the Hyde Park Hotel, London, on 14 September 1993, after White left his previous restaurant, Harveys. Following the move, the kitchen staff was more than doubled in number, and White used Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire as a template to pursue his third Michelin star. This was awarded in the 1995 Michelin guide. White then moved the restaurant to the Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel, London, in 1997, taking on the listed Oak Room as the main dining room. He sought a further rating of five red forks and spoons in the guide, to gain the highest possible rating for the restaurant. It gained this award in the following guide.
James "Jocky" Petrie is a Scottish professional chef, best known for his work alongside chef Heston Blumenthal as Head of Creative Development of the Experimental Kitchen at The Fat Duck, and as Group Executive Development Chef for Gordon Ramsay. He has regularly appeared as mentor and judge on a number of television shows including MasterChef, Heston's Fantastical Food, In Search of Perfection, and Top Chef Suomi.
Frances Atkins is a British chef. She won a Michelin star at the Yorke Arms in 2003.
Kamilla Seidler is a Danish chef, who is the head chef at restaurant Gustu in La Paz, Bolivia. In 2016, she was named the Best Female chef Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants.
Benoit Blin is a French pastry chef and judge. After serving two apprenticeships and national service in the French Navy, Blin worked at the Normandy Hotel and the Hôtel Ritz Paris in Paris. In 1995 he was persuaded by Raymond Blanc to join the staff of his Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons restaurant in England and has remained there ever since. Blin has judged competitions including the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts' Master of Culinary Arts and, since 2016, has been a judge on the television show Bake Off: The Professionals. He published his first cookbook in 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)