Emily Watkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dorset, England |
| Spouse | Miles Lampson |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | British cuisine |
Rating(s) | |
Current restaurant(s)
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Television show(s) | |
Emily Watkins is a British chef at The Kingham Plough gastropub restaurant in Gloucestershire, having previously worked in Florence and at The Fat Duck. She was one of the winners of 2014's season of the Great British Menu .
Emily Watkins was interested in cooking from an early age, because of a love of eating food. Her mother ran a country house hotel in Dorset, where Watkins would help out on occasion along with her sisters. However, she was steered away from pursuing cooking professionally, instead going to University and afterwards working in an office for six months. [1]
She left, and travelled to Italy where she decided to follow up on her dreams of becoming a chef. She travelled, hoping to convince someone to take on a staff member with no experience, eventually landing a role in Florence at Ristorante Beccofino. Initially as a front of house worker, who also spent two days per week in the kitchen, she was moved fully into a chef role after two months. Within two years, she had become a junior sous chef and had become fluent in Italian. [1]
In 2002, she moved back to England where she worked at The Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal on the sauce section. It was at this point that the restaurant was awarded a third Michelin star and was named the Best Restaurant in the World. She left in 2005, [1] having suffered a hip injury from standing all day, [2] becoming a private chef in London. Two years later she moved to Gloucestershire, where her sister told her that a local pub, [1] The Plough Inn, was for sale. It was there at the age of 28 that she opened her own restaurant along with business partner Adam Dorrien Smith, called The Kingham Plough. She uses local ingredients, and serves twists on well known British dishes. It has won several awards, [1] [3] including being awarded three rosettes by The Automobile Association and was named ninth in Estrella Damm's list of the top 50 gastropubs in the UK in 2016. [4] In 2019, she sold the restaurant to new owners Matt and Katie Beamish. [5]
She competed in the 2014 season of BBC Two's Great British Menu competition, reaching the final where she was chosen to serve her fish course "Fight them on the beaches" at St. Paul's Cathedral in honour of the First World War centenary. [1] The dish had been inspired by both of her grandfathers, one of which had worked at the War Office, while the other was stationed on the battleship HMS Valiant and was later a prisoner of war. [6]
Watkins has four children with her husband Miles Lampson. [4] After fellow chef Monica Galetti questioned the ability for female chefs to both work and have children, Watkins said:
Although there are times when my husband would say that I've put my job before my family, I'm happy with my career. I don't think I could put any more into it or take any more out of it. I always wanted to be a chef and I always wanted to be a mum, but the business was my baby and I'd never missed a serving. [7]
Heston Marc Blumenthal is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with unusual recipes, such as bacon-and-egg ice cream and snail porridge. His recipes for triple-cooked chips and soft-centred Scotch eggs have been widely imitated. He has advocated a scientific approach to cooking, for which he has been awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Reading, Bristol and London and made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
The Fat Duck is a fine dining restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, England, owned by the chef Heston Blumenthal. Housed in a 16th-century building, the Fat Duck opened on 16 August 1995. Although it originally served food similar to a French bistro, it soon acquired a reputation for precision and invention, and has been at the forefront of many modern culinary developments, such as food pairing, flavour encapsulation and multi-sensory cooking.
Paul Rankin is a celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Rankin's parents moved back to Ballywalter, where he grew up, some time after he was born. This was stated when he was the subject of an episode of a short programme named Proud Parents on Channel 4, made in 2006.
Tom Aikens was a London Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant operated by the eponymous chef from April 2003 opening to January 2014 closure. The restaurant received mostly positive critical reception.
Merrilees Claire Parker is a British celebrity chef and television presenter. She is mainly known for presenting television programmes combining food and travel as well as various more traditional cookery programmes. Parker is also renowned for the menu she presented working for the pub The Lansdowne in Primrose Hill in London. Many of her recipes are freely available online.
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.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, also known as Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, is the signature restaurant owned and operated by British celebrity chef and media personality Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, in Chelsea, London. It opened in 1998 and was Ramsay's first solo restaurant. In 2001 it was awarded three Michelin stars, and in 2022 Ramsay celebrated 21 years with all three. In March 2013, the restaurant reopened following an art deco redesign.
Thomas Kerridge is an English chef. After initially appearing in several small television parts as a child actor, he decided to attend culinary school at the age of 18. He has since worked at a variety of British restaurants, including the Rhodes in the Square and Adlards.
The Hand & Flowers is a gastropub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire that opened in 2005. Owned and operated by Tom Kerridge and his wife Beth Cullen-Kerridge, it gained its first Michelin star within a year of opening and a second in the 2012 list, making it the first pub to hold two Michelin stars. It was named the AA Restaurant of the Year for 2011–12.
Rachel Khoo is a British cook, author, and broadcaster who has hosted and co-hosted television cooking shows on the BBC, Food Network, and Netflix.
Lisa Goodwin-Allen is a British chef best known for being executive chef of the Michelin-starred Northcote restaurant. She was also one of four winning chefs on season five of the BBC cooking show Great British Menu.
Christine Huyen Tran Hà is an American chef, writer and TV host. She is the first blind contestant of MasterChef and the winner of its third season in 2012.
The Hinds Head, is a gastropub in Bray, Berkshire. The pub dates from the 15th century, and was converted into a restaurant in the 1920s. It was awarded a single Michelin star in the 2013 edition of the Michelin Guide and has retained it ever since. It has been owned by chef Heston Blumenthal since 2004.
Romy Gill MBE is a British-Indian chef, food writer, author and broadcaster. She was the owner and head chef at Romy's Kitchen in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. In 2016 she was appointed an MBE in the Queen's 90th birthday honours list. Romy has amassed a number of television and radio appearances, including presenting, co-presenting and judging roles. She regularly contributes to national and international publications, including The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph.
Martha Ortiz is a Mexican chef and owner of the restaurants Dulce Patria in the Las Alcobas hotel in Mexico City and Ella Canta within the InterContinental London Park Lane in London, England.
Florence Knight is a British chef and newspaper columnist, best known for her work at the restaurant Polpetto in London. She has also written for both The Times and the Sunday Times.
Danni Barry was the head chef of Eipic restaurant in Northern Ireland and executive chef in Balloo House. She is now executive chef in Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara, Galway. She was the second female Irish chef to hold a Michelin star. In 2016, she was named Irish Chef of the Year.
Elizabeth "Liz" Haigh is a Singaporean-born chef who competed on MasterChef in 2011, and went on to win a Michelin star at the Hackney-based restaurant Pidgin. Haigh currently operates the kopitiam Mei Mei at Borough Market.
Tom Aikens, also named Tom Aitkens, is an English Michelin-starred chef. Aikens briefly worked for chefs in London and Paris restaurants. Under his tenure from 1996 to 1999 as head chef and then chef patron, Pied à Terre earned its two Michelin stars in January 1997.
