Jun Tanaka | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jun Tanaka 18 November 1971 New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Chef |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | European cuisine |
Rating(s)
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Current restaurant(s)
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Jun Tanaka (born 18 November 1971 [1] ) is an American-born Japanese-British television chef, best known for presenting Channel 4's Cooking It as well as appearing in Saturday Kitchen on BBC One. He was the third Grand Champion of the American competitive cooking show, Chopped .
On 18 November 1971, Jun Tanaka was born in New York City, US, to a chemical engineer [1] and a housewife. [2] When he was seven in 1978, his family moved from New York City to England. [3] In 1989, his parents returned to Japan while Tanaka and his older brother, an orthopaedic surgeon, [4] continued living in England.
Armed with a list of restaurants from his father, Tanaka approached each to gain a position as an apprentice. At the top of the list were Le Gavroche, Chez Nico and Marco Pierre White’s restaurant Harvey's. [5]
In 1990, 19-year-old Tanaka's first apprenticeship was at Le Gavroche under the Roux Brothers, [6] and went on to work and train at Chez Nico and The Capital as chef de partie under Philip Britten. He then worked at Les Saveurs as chef de partie under Joel Antunes for two years. He then worked at The Restaurant, Marco Pierre White, and The Oak Room as a sous chef under Marco Pierre White, before moving to The Square as junior sous chef under Philip Howard and onto Chavot under Eric Chavot as sous chef. [5]
In 2004, Tanaka became the executive head chef of the Renaissance London Chancery Court Hotel's Pearl Restaurant and Bar, a fine dining establishment that specialises in French cuisine. [7]
In addition to his job as Pearl executive chef, Tanaka partnered with Notting Hill Brassierie's head chef Mark Jankel in 2009 to set up a venture using a street catering van, Street Kitchen, to produce and sell gourmet lunches, using 100% British produce, at various London locations.
At the end of 2012, Jun left Pearl to open his own restaurant in central London. Named 'The Ninth', it opened in November 2015 in Charlotte Street. [8] It was awarded a Michelin star in the 2017 Michelin Guide, which it has retained every year since. [9]
Tanaka hosted the Channel 4 programme Cooking It in 2006, and has made appearances in BBC One's Saturday Kitchen , UKTV's Great Food Live, ITV's Saturday Cooks, and BBC Two's Food Poker as a resident chef in 2007. [5]
He is currently a regular fixture on UKTV's Market Kitchen , and has made a regular appearance on ITV's Daily Cooks Challenge and BBC's MasterChef: the Professionals.
In 2009, Simon & Schuster published Tanaka's book "Simple to Sensational", which offers recipes and guidance for beginners in fine-dining cookery.
In 2013, Tanaka won the Grand Finale of Chopped Champions, which pitted 16 previous Chopped Champions against each other for $50,000. He stated that his prize money would be invested in his new restaurant.
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Michel Roux, OBE, also known as Michel Roux Snr., was a French chef and restaurateur working in Britain. Along with his brother Albert, he opened Le Gavroche, which subsequently became the first three Michelin starred restaurant in Britain and The Waterside Inn, which was the first restaurant outside France to hold three stars for 25 years.
Albert Henri Roux was a French-British restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped train a series of chefs that went on to win Michelin stars, and his son, Michel Roux, Jr., continues to run Le Gavroche.
Marco Pierre White is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the enfant terrible of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. He has trained notable chefs such as Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsay and Curtis Stone.
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Michel Albert Roux previously known as Michel Roux Jr., is an English-French two Michelin starred chef. He owns the London restaurant Le Gavroche.
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.
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Harveys was a restaurant in Wandsworth, London, run by chef Marco Pierre White between 1987 and 1993. Its French cuisine was warmly received by food critics, and it was named Restaurant of the Year by The Times in 1987.
Monica Galetti is a Samoan-born New Zealand chef. She is a judge on the BBC competitive cooking programme MasterChef: The Professionals and chef proprietor of Mere in London. She was senior sous-chef at Le Gavroche in London. As well as appearing as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals from 2009 to 2021, she has presented Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby with Giles Coren since 2017.
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The Square was a London fine dining restaurant, opened on 13 December 1991 in St James's. Since its opening, it had been co-owned by chef Phil Howard and wine expert Nigel Platts-Martin. It also earned its first Michelin star in 1994 and retained it from then on. After relocating to Mayfair in February 1997, The Square won a second Michelin star in 1998, which it retained until 2016, the same year when Howard and Platts-Martin sold the restaurant to a company held by Marlon Abela. It regained its first Michelin star in 2017. It closed on 31 January 2020, causing the restaurant to lose its star the following year.
