Chef Michel Roux Jr has announced he is closing his legendary two-Michelin star restaurant Le Gavroche.
Described as the “last bastion for French Haute cuisine” in London, the Mayfair institution will close its doors for the final time in January so that Michel Roux can focus on family life away from the daily stresses of running a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Roux said: “This decision has not been made lightly.
“Le Gavroche means so much, not just to myself and the Roux family, but to the wider Gavroche team and our guests who have become family over so many years.
“The end of the current lease gave me the opportunity to assess and consider the future, and I’d like the restaurant to close on a high. It’s about turning the page and moving forward so I can focus on my family and other business ventures.”
Le Gavroche restaurant staff, who Michel says he considers “family”, will be going through redundancy consultations over the next few weeks.
He told The Times: “The day-to-day pressure of running a restaurant is not getting any easier.
“Living through and coming back from the pandemic didn’t do my mental health any good. I feel for any young independent restaurateur opening up now. Brexit has put a huge spanner in the works in terms of supplies, staffing and costs.”
Translating as the urchin (taken from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables) Le Gavroche opened under the legendary Roux brothers, the late Albert Roux OBE and Michel Roux Sr OBE, in 1967 attracting then up-and-coming chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Marcus Wareing.
It is a behemoth among British restaurants: the first UK restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star, in 1974, the first to win a second, 1977, and, after moving to its current premises in Upper Brook Street, the first to win three stars, come 1982.
Michel, who has been at the helm of the restaurant since 1991, announced a series of special dinners and events to make sure the record-breaking Michelin-starred restaurant goes out “on a high”.
He added: “This is not the end of Le Gavroche – the restaurant may be closing, but the name will live on, as will the Roux dynasty.”
