UK Travel Blog

If you want to impress your friends, why not dine out at one of the restaurants owned by the celebrity chefs.

As far as I know, the original TV celebrity chef Fanny Craddock never owned her own restaurant, but it seems most of those who followed in her footsteps have opened at least one restaurant of their own. So here we help you dine with the stars.

The Fat Duck Restaurant is owned by possibly the most flamboyant and unique-styled celebrity chef since the late Keith Floyd – namely Heston Blumenthal.

His approach to cooking is something more out of a science fiction novel than any cookbook with the use of vacuum pumps in chocolate soufflé and ultra-slow cooking of meat. He’s also famous for using ingredients in a very artistic way unlike anything anyone else really does.

This all comes at a price with various so called tasting menus starting around £140 a head, but for a unique dining experience it is hard to beat. The restaurant is one of a very select few in the UK which has achieved 3 Michelin Stars and was voted by Restaurant Magazine as the “Best Restaurant in the World”.

Fifteen is the brainchild of Jamie Oliver who shot to fame in the late 1990’s with his series The Naked Chef. Around 2002, Jamie then setout to train 15 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and turn them into fully fledged chefs running their own restaurant. The food is uncomplicated and uncluttered in style.

Today the London restaurant is still entirely staffed in the same way and all proceeds from the restaurant are ploughed back in to retrain the next generation of chefs.

Although it was a risky business venture, Fifteen has now become rather a cult restaurant where getting a table in the next 2 to 3 months is sometimes very hard. The project has now been extended to another Fifteen restaurant in Cornwall.

Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons is very different to either of the above, but then being owned and managed by Raymond Blanc, it could be forgiven for adding a little flair to the dining experience.

The restaurant is part of the Le Manoir country house hotel and is the only country house hotel in the UK to have kept 2 Michelin Stars for over 22 years! The food is a classical mix of English and continental set amongst 2 acres of gardens.

The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow is owned by the king of celebrity seafood – Rick Stein. This is one celebrity chef who made his name in a very particular niche of the restaurant business and has run an incredibly successful restaurant from that.

The fish in the restaurant is pretty much straight off the boats and bought directly for the kitchen so is as fresh as you can possibly get it, which is probably why Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant is so popular.

The River Café is one of the longest established restaurants of any TV celebrity and was responsible for bringing authentic Italian cuisine to London long before Ruth Rogers and the late Rose Gray became famous.

The restaurant still sticks to it’s principles and serves to an eager audience with simple Italian cooking. Many dishes are cooked in the traditional way with a wood burning oven for authentic flavours.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is the flagship restaurant of one of the most talked about and possibly slightly controversial celebrity chefs in the country. The restaurant has achieved the rare 3 Michelin Star accolade proving it’s quality and service.

His fiery temper divided viewers, but since first appearing on TV he has proven his chef credentials and dedication to food. Along with this restaurant, Gordon has connections with numerous others around the country and has almost become a brand in himself.

Other examples where you’ll find Gordon’s cooking include Claridges, the Savoy Grill (at the Savoy Hotel) and Maze along with The Narrow and The Warrington pubs.

Notable exceptions – There are a few TV celebrity chefs who don’t seem to have restaurants such as Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith, but both seem to be doing quite well without them.