Michel Roux, one of the most famous chefs in the world, three Michelin stars, has died at the age of 79. French but English by adoption, Roux was born in Charolles, Burgundy, in a room just above his grandfather's delicatessen. Instead, he died in Bray, in the English Berkshire, from a long lung disease: a serious loss not only because Roux was for decades a standard bearer of French cuisine in the world, but also and above all because it was he who imported it into the United United, in 1967, in a London that was still culinary illiterate at the time.
Roux saw the possibilities and at only 26 years old, after an apprenticeship with his uncle, in French diplomacy and with the Rothschilds, he opened with his brother Albert in the British capital Le Gavroche, a French restaurant in the wealthy district of Mayfair which later became legendary because it was the first across the Channel to obtain three Michelin stars, in 1982. Ten years earlier, however, the Rouxes had also bought the Riverside Inn pub, in the village of Bray, on the Thames, where Michel died Yesterday. With their highly refined French cuisine and the three Michelin stars awarded in 1985, the Riverside is now the only restaurant in the UK to have kept them for over thirty years.
“The stars of Michel Roux, humble genius, will shine forever”, was the celebration of his family. Who will continue his work of him: the Riverside is now in the hands of his son Alain. While the Gavroche fell to his brother Albert's son: Michel Jr.
