French chef Raymond Blanc takes UK top spot

LONDON, Sept 23 (AFP) – Raymond Blanc, a Frenchman who has led a 30-year quest in Britain to change attitudes towards fine cuisine, was Thursday named the country’s best chef by his toque-topped peers.

The chef-owner of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons near the university town of Oxford, northwest of London, was awarded the laureate in a survey of around 1,800 chefs conducted by the AA Restaurant Guide.

“Many talented people work very hard all of their lives and often do not get the recognition that I am receiving today. I am honoured and grateful,” Blanc said.

Blanc, who arrived in England in 1972, has already won his hotel and restaurant two Michelin stars, out of a possible three, and five out of five “rosettes” awarded by the AA guide.

But he says he is most proud of his work training new chefs. “Twenty-two Michelin stars, from the one hundred in Britain, come from Le Manoir,” he told AFP in an interview last month.

“To be awarded Chefs’ Chef of the Year is the greatest recognition of a chef by his peers,” Peter Birnie, the AA’s chief hotel inspector, said Thursday.

“Raymond’s dedication to improving and continuing high standards of cuisine throughout the world is first class.”

Other previous winners of the AA title include Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Rick Stein and Heston Blumenthal.

Subject: French News