Yet his success hasn't come without controversy. Particularly sharp-tongued statements include telling TMZ that he’d poison President Trump and Kim Jong-un if he was cooking for them, calling the latter a “chubby, evil little f**k”. His food-related opinions have also garnered plenty of column inches, from opining that you shouldn’t order fish on Mondays as it won't be fresh to saying “the very epicentre of douchedom is the kobe slider”.
In 2017, Keygnaert decided to close down Restaurant A’Qi and give back her Michelin star, starting a new, more relaxed restaurant, Cantine Copine, with a distinct lack of Michelin stars instead. She told Munchies: “The star brings along a whole circus that's outdated. If there's even a crease in the menu card or a crease in the tablecloth, people soon end their sentence with: ‘I don't think that belongs to a star restaurant.’”
Along the way his exploits have become infamous. He reportedly once sent more than fifty people away from a restaurant in one night, and it was rumoured that he slept with customers between courses at his south London restaurant, Harveys. Perhaps most memorable was his reaction to a chef who complained he was too hot: he told The Observer that he “took a carving knife in one hand, held his jacket with the other and slashed it”, before slashing his trousers and saying “that should provide a bit of ventilation”.
The innovative chef puts the high in high end by creating a healing culinary experience for her customers, picking particular strains of cannabis to pair perfectly with the food they’re infused in. She’s written a book, Cannabis Cuisine: Bud Pairings of A Born Again Chef, and sees it as part of her mission to “change the perception of cannabis from being a gateway drug to something akin to aloe”.
Danish chef René Redzepi has won plenty of accolades: not only did he receive two Michelin stars at his Copenhagen restaurant Noma, but the establishment has been named the World’s Best Restaurant numerous times. He focuses on producing Nordic food with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and is passionate about nature, even launching an app, Vild Mad, meaning “wild food” in Danish, teaching people how to forage.
However, in 2017, Redzepi closed his famous restaurant, announcing he wanted to reopen the establishment in a new location and with a new concept, focusing on creating an “urban farm". The new Noma, which is set to reopen imminently, is enlisting some unusual items for its menu, reportedly including cod sperm.
His career hasn't been without controversy: not only did he leave his job as head chef at London restaurant Pied à Terre amid allegations of branding a kitchen assistant with a hot knife, but during financial problems in 2008 he allegedly left 160 suppliers almost £1 million out of pocket. He told the Evening Standard of the experience: "For months I could hardly look at myself in the mirror. I feel like a complete sh**bag."
However, Michel Roux hit the headlines in 2017, outraging millennials when he announced a ban on photography at the Waterside Inn. He said: “I’m really getting so upset about people taking pictures... I mean, what are they doing? Maybe once during the meal you want to take a little photo of something because it's unusual, but what about the flavours? A picture on a phone cannot possibly capture the flavours.” Fellow chef Gordon Ramsay hit back on Twitter, calling him “pompous” and “an old fart”.
Blumenthal has hit the headlines countless times, many of them positive. His focus on multi-sensory cooking has been extensively debated in the press, with a dish he devised to be eaten to the sound of breaking waves (said to enhance the taste) among the most talked-about of the past decade. Less positive was the press coverage he received in 2009, when he had to close his restaurant temporarily after 240 diners were struck with norovirus due to oysters said to be contaminated by human sewage.
Not only did Ladenis give back his three Michelin stars as a result of becoming disillusioned with the three-star restaurant scene, saying he wanted to concentrate on simpler food, but he also set rules in his restaurant. It was said that no diner could have a second gin and tonic, change the lighting or ask for salt. He even threw diners out, and reportedly kicked the back of diners’ chairs if they weren’t sitting up properly.
Japanese chef Yukako Ichikawa was well-known for enforcing a strict set of rules at her Sydney restaurant Wafu, which included requiring diners to attend an orientation session before making reservations and asking them to bring their own containers in case they didn’t finish their food. Diners were also expected to sit up straight, share food, rest their chopsticks after each bite and wait to be given permission before sitting down. She even gave a 30% discount to diners who finished all their food.
After over five years of running Wafu, Ichikawa closed it in 2012 blaming the "inconsiderate, greedy people” who had flouted her many rules. In a statement on her website, she said: “I found it distressing when, after eating, with obvious self-satisfaction, people said, ‘SO FULL!’ Perhaps this was meant as a compliment, but to me it meant that the utterer had deliberately damaged their body by wasting food through over-eating.”
Despite his culinary successes, Ramsay is perhaps best-known for his quick temper and fondness for swearing. His trademark foul-mouthed tirades have been well-documented on his TV shows, including Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. Off-screen, some of his most controversial decisions include kicking food critic AA Gill out of his restaurant and reportedly saying "women can’t cook to save their lives", a statement he has since retracted.