Michel Roux’s wife, he says, wasn’t convinced when their only daughter, Emily, wanted to follow her old man into the family business. “Giselle told her: ‘Look at your dad! He’s always tired. He’s grumpy! He spends all day Sunday sleeping. He stinks when he comes home! Look at his hands!’” The chef himself was more philosophical, bowing to the inevitable. “Cooking is what we Rouxs do.””
The proof of that particular millefeuille is Caractère, the smart Notting Hill restaurant in a former corner boozer in which he and I are having lunch. Emily is in the kitchen, with her husband, Diego Ferrari – former head chef at Roux’s own restaurant Le Gavroche. Emily and Diego opened Caractère in 2019, and they are showing particular devotion to duty today, Michel suggests, because it is their son’s third birthday. Emily is too busy at work on her perfect desserts to come out and chat with her dad, but a couple of times she forwards pictures of his grandson, eating birthday cake at nursery, from her phone. Does he show signs of the family passion for puddings? “He does seem to have a bit of a taste for it, yes.”
