Chef Michel Roux Jr reveals mishap that ruined Christmas dinner

Making a Christmas dinner could be extremely irritating, and even double Michelin-star chef Michel Roux Jr can get it flawed.

The famend TV chef and proprietor of unique French restaurant Le Gavroche in Mayfair, has revealed the mishap that after left his household and not using a meal on Christmas day.

Speaking solely to The Express, the previous Masterchef choose, 63, recounted the dreadful second in his father’s residence, when the clan have been compelled to replenish on Christmas trimmings. 

He mentioned: ‘We have been having fun with a pre-lunch drink and we appeared out of the window and what we noticed was the Labrador on the garden with the cooked turkey, having fun with feasting on that.

‘The Labrador had climbed up onto the kitchen desk and nicked the turkey that I believe was resting out of the oven, so we ended up having simply the trimmings – the sausages, roast potatoes and the stuffing.’

Double Michelin-star chef Michel Roux Jr has revealed the horrible cooking expertise that left him and his household and not using a meal on Christmas day (Pictured: Michel Roux Jr poses in a Santa’s hat along with his Christmas Rouelle de Porc Main for Michel Roux’s Christmas in Provence)

Ironically, the highly-rated chef appeared again on the previous Christmas with the fondest of reminiscences, and even recalled the scant meal being ‘scrumptious’ – regardless of it lacking an entire turkey.

The day maybe holds additional sentimental worth for Michel as a result of the household feast passed off at his father and celebrated chef Albert Roux’s residence, who handed away in January 2021.

News experiences following Roux Sr’s demise indicated he had left nothing in his will to his son Michel Roux Jr, nonetheless he as a substitute bequeathed his high-flying spouse – virtually 30 years his junior – a 3rd of his £652,000 property.

Albert, who based London’s legendary Le Gavroche restaurant which turned the primary in Britain to be awarded three Michelin stars, died in January aged 85, round two years after he married 57-year-old Maria Rodrigues.

According to revealed probate paperwork, Roux’s property was price £614,727 after his excellent affairs have been finalised. Of that, £224,727 have been to be served as much as Maria, a high-flyer at City agency KPMG. 

She was additionally gifted all his private gadgets, aside from his sapphire cufflinks, which have been for his nephew, Alain Roux, and his ruby cufflinks for his stepson, Joshua Rodrigues, who was additionally left a legacy of £15,000.

But maybe surprisingly, Albert, who’s credited with turning culinary superstars Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White into family names, left nothing in his will to his son Michel Roux Jr.

Just a number of years earlier, the pair had deliberate on going into enterprise collectively by reworking Brentwood’s iconic Post Office into their ‘wonderful eating restaurant in Essex’. Though functions to transform the constructing have been accepted by the council, the Roux camp went quiet on the undertaking.

Speaking to The Express, the previous knowledgeable Masterchef choose, 63, mentioned the clan have been compelled to replenish on Christmas trimmings following the festive catastrophe (Pictured: The chef at Good Housekeeping Live on November 10, 2023 in London)

Albert left £55,000 to his sister Martine; £250,000 to his daughter, Danielle; £20,000 to his granddaughter Rosie; and £5,000 to 3 grandchildren. A niece additionally obtained £5,000. The will, written in 2020, said that Roux had given Michel many presents through the years.

Le Gavroche was the primary restaurant within the UK to achieve three Michelin stars, however Michel Rouz Jr he plans to shut early subsequent 12 months for a ‘higher work life stability’.

Michel informed The Times: ‘I’m genuinely drained. Being within the restaurant virtually every single day has taken its toll and I’ve bought to the stage the place I’m not having fun with it as a lot as I used to. 

The scant Christmas feast passed off at his father and celebrated chef Albert Roux’s residence earlier than his passing (Pictured: Albert Roux (left) pictured along with his son, Michel Roux Jr (centre), and Michel’s daughter, Emily, at a restaurant opening in Scotland in 2016)

‘It is a really high-pressure job and I would like a greater work-life stability.’ He added: ‘Financially we’re in an excellent place. We are full every single day’.

Le Gavroche, on the time of its opening, was the one French restaurant of its form in London, providing classical French meals and the very best requirements of cooking and repair.

In a prolonged Instagram put up saying the closure, Michel introduced the restaurant can be closing in January 2024.

He mentioned he had ‘very blended feelings’ in regards to the determination to shut, however that the restaurant’s identify would ‘dwell on’.

‘This determination has not been made frivolously. Le Gavroche means a lot, not simply to myself and the Roux household, however to the broader Gavroche group and also you, our friends, who’ve grow to be our household over so a few years,’ he wrote.

‘I’ve at all times felt that ought to Le Gavroche ever shut, it have to be on a excessive. ‘Le Gavroche continues to be absolutely booked, week in, week out, however I’ve identified for some time that I need to find time for a greater work/life stability, so I can spend extra time with my household and on my different enterprise ventures’.

He added {that a} sequence of ‘celebratory dinners’ can be held till the restaurant’s closure.

‘This is just not the top of Le Gavroche – the restaurant could also be closing, however the identify will dwell on,’ mentioned Michel.

‘I couldn’t be extra grateful for the restaurant group, who’ve liked the restaurant as if it have been their very own.

‘The whole group each previous and current, will ceaselessly have my gratitude, and can at all times be thought-about as a part of the Roux household’.

He concluded: ‘And to you, our friends. Our success is all all the way down to you. I want to prolong a private thanks to each single person who has dined with us. Your help means all the pieces to us’.