OBITUARY
Albert Henri Roux OBE & His Kiwi Legacy Keeping the Roux connection growing.
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ne of the world’s culinary greats and most high-profile restaurateurs passed away on January 4 at the age of 85 and the legacy of Frenchborn Albert Henri Roux OBE lives on around the world, even here in New Zealand. Albert can be credited for influencing some of this country’s best chefs and that influence continues to flow on through the generations with three AUT School of Hospitality and Tourism lecturers all having worked under Roux’s careful gaze. Hospitality Business’ February issue Chef of the Month, UK-born and trained Michelin star Chef, Toby Stuart of Marlborough’s Harvest Restaurant, also held high honours in the Roux family restaurant empire, after first cooking a restaurant lunch for Albert’s business partner and brother, Michel. Le Gavroche in London, arguably the brothers’ most famous restaurant, became the first British restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars in 1982. Albert Roux had a profound influence on British dining habits and became renowned for revolutionising Britain’s staid, old-fashioned culinary scene. Le Gavroche, named after the character in the Les Miserables story, was credited with turning London’s culinary scene from one devoid of innovation into one of the world’s most intriguing gastronomic melting pots, according to the Associated Press (AP). From Le Gavroche’s launch, a loyal clientele that included many of the icons of the swinging ‘60s frequented the restaurant. The brothers took turns in the kitchen and dining room, seeking “to achieve a global reputation for service and the quality of their cuisine”, says AP. Throughout the years well-known chefs, such as Monica Galetti, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Marco Pierre White, also earned their stripes at the restaurant that continues to serve classic French haute cuisine in the well-heeled Mayfair neighbourhood. Le Gavroche, which lost one star in 1993, is now run by Albert’s son, Michel Jnr, and is still considered one of London’s most coveted places to dine. According to AP, Michel Roux Jr said his father was a mentor for so many in the hospitality industry, and “a real inspiration to budding chefs, including me”. Albert and brother, Michel, were awarded honorary OBE medals at a ceremony at the Foreign and Commonwealth offices in central London in 2002. Leading Kiwi Chef, Toby Stuart cooked lunch for Albert’s son Michel Jnr while the famous family was filming yet another television cooking show in the restaurant where he worked. “They’d just launched Roux at Parliament Square and the chef was leaving so he asked me if I’d like to work for them,” says Toby. He stayed for two and a half years, earning three rosettes during that time and making it into Restaurant Magazine’s Top 10 UK Chefs to watch. These accolades put Toby into the top 10 percent of UK chefs in 2010, and during this time he was introduced to the Roux family. “Albert came in quite often to keep an eye on us, taste the food and check it,” he says. “There was a high-profile clientele with Parliament nearby.” Toby stayed in touch with the family after leaving and later taught at the Roux’s Cactus Cookery School. “Michel Roux Jnr pulled in real chefs from his restaurants and we taught various specialist cookery classes to the general public.” The school won Cookery School of the Year with Food and Travel Magazine in the UK in 2016. “That kept the whole Roux connection growing and then I opened my own consultancy, Boutique Cuisine and ultimately the Roux family became my best client,” says Toby. He went on to consult for the Roux’s 12 restaurants, including pop-up restaurants. “Albert then asked me to oversee the Roux properties in Scotland. I could be cooking for a plush, private household in Chelsea or Kensington one day, setting up for a cooking demonstration from Michel Roux Jnr on another and flying up to Scotland to oversee a menu change at one of their 5-star properties,” he says. Chez Roux ran the official hospitality suite ‘The Gatsby Club’ at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. 20 FEBRUARY 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS
“…offering good and honest country cooking. The kind of place you can go to eat without ringing the bank for permission…” Albert Roux
Albert Henri Roux OBE
“I could be serving 1000 a la carte lunch covers a day from a temporary kitchen in a marquee, all under the Roux banner. I was working directly for the Roux Family as part of the company’s consultancy team,” says Toby. “We also had pop up restaurants at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Henley Music festival, so we would travel around the country quite a bit which was interesting and fun.” Toby says there’s still a distinct French influence in his cooking after spending four and a half years working under Albert’s watchful eye, his palette and philosophy of food was an inspiration. John Kelleher – Senior AUT Lecturer It’s been 30 years since School of Hospitality and Tourism senior lecturer in professional cookery John Kelleher worked for Albert Roux at Le Gavroche, which opened in 1967. “There was always a head chef in charge, but Albert would be running the service floor as the owner and you couldn’t ever slip one past him or you’d get a bit of a rollicking,” says John. As a young 21-year-old Kiwi chef looking for work, John knocked on the back door of Le Gavroche in London and Albert greeted him. “He said go and see my son, Michel, who runs Roux restaurants, and I worked there while gaining work experience at Le Gavroche, which fast-tracked me into a job there,” he says.