Emily Roux
If both your father and grandfather were two of world’s most highly regarded chefs I think that most of us would feel the pressure. Emily Roux, however, is taking it in her stride. Now an accomplished chef in her own right, it’s clear that cooking has been in her blood from the very beginning.
“When I was about 10 years old I would go to Le Gavroche at the weekends and help out. Basically they just plonked me in a corner with kilos of potatoes to peel, and I loved it!” she laughs.
Emily’s father is the two-star Michelin chef Michel Roux Jr and her grandfather Albert Roux OBE, the chef and restaurateur who along with his brother founded London’s Le Gavroche - the first restaurant in the UK to gain a remarkable three Michelin stars. Despite Emily’s foodie upbringing and her super chef heritage, she didn’t suffer from pushy parents when it came to her career choice - quite the opposite in fact.
“My mum didn’t really want me to go in to the business at all - she also did hospitality and catering so she was very aware of the long hours and really explained that to me. Obviously I didn’t listen to her!” she laughs
“My dad didn’t want to push me into it knowing how my mum felt. He just said ‘do what you want to do – do what makes you happy”
Born and raised in Clapham, Emily left home at 18 and decided to go to catering college not in the UK but in France, where she felt she could train anonymously without any additional pressure that might come with being ‘a Roux’.
“I wanted to do my own thing and in France the name Roux is very much like Smith– everyone is called Roux there” she explains.
“Lots of people have scrutinised me because of my name, and if they haven’t said it to my face then they’ve probably thought it, but to be honest I just don’t listen to them, I keep doing my hard work and it has always paid off.”
Emily’s training was rigorous and included internships at some of world’s leading restaurants such as Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin star Louis XV in Monaco, and Paris’ one Michelin star Le 39V and two Michelin star Akrame, but it was her very first placement at the two star Table du Lancaster that has been her toughest challenge to date.
“It was the first time that I actually experienced what it’s like day to day – being part of the kitchen brigade and doing the long hours. Little sleep, lots of listening. It was very hard. A lot of my friends from school dropped out then, because you never really know what it’s like until you do it full time,” she explains.
“But I remember when they first put me on an actual section, and you just feel fantastic. After the first month was over I absolutely loved the place - I was part of the team and they asked me to stay, and I was still anonymous then. It was at least a month if not two before they grasped who I was, and by that time they already knew me and what I could do”
Since her return to the UK nearly 2 years ago Emily, now 26, has been busy working with luxury corporate catering company Restaurant Associates as well as family business Chez Roux. Earlier this year she also hosted several pop ups at Le Gavroche and in November she is due to cook with both her father and grandfather to celebrate the Roux at The Landau’s 10th anniversary. I wonder what it’s like for her to cook alongside her father, and whether she too will follow in his footsteps at Le Gavroche.
“He’s my dad more than a chef - I don’t feel any pressure,” she explains fondly.
“Le Gavroche is 50 years old and it’s amazing, but I feel that I wouldn’t be the right person for it. My style is different and some people have worked there for 25 years and have seen me at the age of 6 running around the kitchen! It would be a difficult dynamic, not just for me but for them”
Speaking of parents – it is in fact the women of the Roux empire who are currently taking centre stage following the release of Emily’s first book, written with her mother Giselle. ‘New French Table’ offers a fresh take on both classic and contemporary recipes, from the provincial home cooking of the Ardèche to the sweet treats of Brittany, demonstrating how the French kitchen has evolved to suit a modern lifestyle.
“I was sitting at the table with my parents - Mum had cooked and Dad asked her for the recipe. Mum laughed and said ‘look, you’re not pinching another one of my recipes to put in your book!’ and so he challenged her to write her own cookbook!” Emily laughs.
“She was a bit scared at first, but we combined her skills as a home cook with my professional experience and we worked on it together. I’d just come back from France so working with her almost day-to-day for weeks was just incredible - family is so important.”
The finished and quite frankly delicious result by the Roux mother-daughter duo is a stylish book containing over 100 recipes that range from lighter soups and salads to every day family dinners and big showstopper feasts, including some of Emily’s slightly more challenging recipes too.
“The pig’s head is probably not everybody’s first choice to try out at home!” she laughs.
“But there are step-by-step pictures that help you along the way” she reassures me. Still, I think I might just stick with the soups and salads for now…
Emily lives in Putney with her husband Diego Ferrari, head chef at Le Gavroche, and together they plan to open their very own restaurant within the next year or so, ideally in London if they can find the right spot.
“It’s been our dream since we met” enthuses Emily.
“There will obviously be some French food but my other half is Italian so there’ll definitely be fresh pasta too! Nothing overly fussy or complicated - it will be things that we would like to eat”
Also on Emily’s to-do list before the year is out are her two sold out cookery classes at Clapham’s Cactus Kitchens based on her contemporary take on classic French food, and her next big challenge after that? Christmas of course.
“Christmas in the Roux household is pretty amazing. If you consider that my husband and I are there, my father and my grandfather – that’s already four chefs in one kitchen!” she laughs.
Sounds like a gastronome’s dream come true to me.
“One of us does the starter, someone else does the main and so on, and then we all chip in for the rest. But we don’t wear our chef whites, no! Although my father is known to wear a sort of Chirstmassy lumberjack shirt…”
Published in the December 2017 issues of The Barnes Magazine, The Richmond Magazine and The Wandsworth Magazine, and online at Essential Surrey and SW London. New French Table by Emily & Giselle Roux is out now, published by Mitchell Beazley, £25 www.octopusbooks.co.uk.
