This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Recipe for success
By Judy Cogan | 21 January 2023 | Food & Drink
Meet the women redefining the UK’s competitive restaurant scene
Britain’s restaurant landscape is ever-changing and the competition to impress diners is fierce as ever. From Michelin-starred restaurants to test kitchen pop-ups and intimate supper clubs women are at the helm of redefining the food scene in the UK.
But while female chefs have a higher profile than they did a decade ago, kitchens are still male-dominated arenas. Right now, only 11 of the places on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list are run by women. We speak to five prolific chefs, who happen to be women, on how they run their kitchens.
Monica Galetti
The Samoan-born chef and former MasterChef: The Professionals judge worked alongside Michel Roux Jr at his two Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche and is now chef proprietor of Mere in London.
“In my kitchen there’s no shortage of women. I employ my team according to skills, attitude and passion, not gender. I became a chef because it’s what I love to do and I had no delusions that it would be tough, physical work. From day one I thrived on the adrenaline of service. If there were more men than women at times, it didn’t bother me.
I have worked in kitchens all over the world – Japan, Barbados, America and Europe – but the best training came from working alongside Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche. His words of wisdom are the foundations of where I learnt to cook, respect and appreciate not just the ingredients but nature, the seasons and the suppliers.
The Hokey Pokey Dessert that I developed for Mere is a twist on my favourite treats as a child in New Zealand – Toffee Pops chocolate biscuits and a drink called L&P (Lemon & Paeroa). It’s impossible to take off the menu due to the requests it gets from guests.
To open a restaurant was always something my husband and I wanted to do. As long as we continue to deliver the great food, wine, service and experiences our guests love, that’s good for me for now. I stay at the top of my game by staying true to my values and believing in my team. All women doing their thing in kitchens are killing it; I support them all.”
Roberta Hall-McCarron
Roberta is the award-winning chef owner of high-end restaurants Eleanore and The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh and is inspired by the very best Scottish produce.
“Kitchens have changed dramatically over the years. They are far more nurturing places now. When I started out it was a pretty aggressive dog-eat-dog world, with colleagues shouting at each other and happily letting one another struggle through service. Looking back, it’s a crazy way to operate. I was often the only female in the kitchen but it didn’t really bother me, I never felt like I wasn’t getting the same opportunities as everyone else.
I’ve worked in the Burj Al Arab in Dubai and at Michelin-starred The Kitchin in Scotland. I think anyone at the top of their game in any industry is something to celebrate regardless of gender. You have to make sacrifices and take a lot of knockbacks along the way.
Empowering my team is hugely important to me. No one is allowed to shout in the restaurant, things will go wrong but we fix them and learn from the mistake. I recently had a baby and I haven’t had to worry about the restaurants at all. I am so fortunate to be in that position.”
Harriet Mansell
Harriet has worked for Mark Hix, at Noma in Copenhagen and on prestigious superyachts. She is now head chef and owner of Robin Wylde in Lyme Regis.
“There are still far more male chefs than female, and I think something we can do to combat this is making hospitality a far more approachable career for everybody.
Working in fine dining is really hard work but we make sure that our employees have a great work-life balance. My staff go out foraging with me and we’re constantly learning. We religiously use and celebrate ingredients from our coastline in our dishes. Our seaweed martini uses kelp collected after a spring tide and infused with our gin; we gather sea herbs – like pepper dulse, samphire and saltbush – and from moorland and hedgerow.
As for getting more women into the kitchen, by pure coincidence, at Robin Wylde we are an all-female kitchen. I don’t like to celebrate that, because gender in the kitchen is irrelevant to me. We’re all working hard and will celebrate our achievements as chefs. But I look forward to the day when the ‘best chef’ award in something like The World’s 50 Best goes to a woman.” »
Noor Murad
As head chef of the Ottolenghi test kitchen, Noor develops recipes for bestselling cookbooks and restaurant menus and co-authored two books with Yotam Ottlolenghi.
“In the test kitchen my main mission is to provide an inclusive, wonderfully uplifting environment, where the team feel inspired and reach their best potential. As a Bahrain-born chef my culture is very much a part of my identity and I often find myself drawing from my upbringing and the flavours I know and love when dreaming up recipe ideas.
Bahrain is and always will be home to me, so anytime I feel uninspired I just think back to the foods I grew up eating from elaborate rice dishes to cardamom-spiced everything.
I didn’t often see women in leadership roles growing up in Bahrain, especially in hospitality, but I take after my dad who always taught me to put my best foot forward in whatever undertaking I choose. Moving to London, and specifically working at Ottolenghi, I’m constantly in awe of all the powerful women I encounter. Female energy is essential in any kitchen. It’s not to say that one sex is better than the other; all are equally welcome – and necessary.”
OTK Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad (Ebury)
Rukmini Iyers
Rukmini has transformed cookery with her million-copy selling Roasting Tin series. She has just released her most personal book to date, India Express.
“I think ‘energy saving’ would be the sort of energy that I’ve brought to my books because, as a woman and now, as a new parent, I’m tired all the time. The idea is to get maximum flavour and kudos for your meals in as little time as possible. Hearing from readers that my books have changed the way they cook feels absolutely wonderful. With the new book, it’s amazing that people are cooking and enjoying my family’s take on Bengali or South Indian classics.
My mother is the best cook I know – she can turn her hand to Western cooking just as well as Indian. She’s inspired me to have an open mind and always try out new dishes – we love cooking Italian food at home – cannelloni, zucchini fries, involtini.
As a woman, it feels interesting to be cooking and using the domestic sphere as my workplace – is it unreconstructed of me? But cooking is what I’m best at and I enjoy – and I’m all for the wave of intersectional feminism which says women can do whatever they like.”
India Express by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg)