Birthday: 06 September 1963
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Skye Gyngell may not appear on TV as much as some of her chef peers and she perhaps wouldn’t be well known among the most casual of restaurant goers, but she is something of a darling in the food media world.
Gyngell was born in Sydney, Australia but like many chefs before her, she actually learned her trade in France. Gyngell trained at Parisian restaurant La Varenne, under the guidance of chef Anne Willan. She later worked at another French restaurant called Dodin-Bouffant, before packing up her things and moving to London, to take up a position at The French House in Soho.
In 2004, Gyngell was part of the opening team for Petersham Nurseries Cafe and acted as its head chef. Here, she was praised for creating a restaurant which differed in style to many of its West End stablemates and the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2011.
Arguably one of the most notable and controversial moments of Gyngell’s career followed, when she quit the restaurant a year later. At the time, she described the Michelin accolade in an interview as like a “curse”, explaining that she didn’t enjoy the expectations that come with having a Michelin-starred restaurant. In the years that followed, Gyngell would go on to say that she regretted her initial comments about receiving a Michelin star.
In 2014, Gyngell opened Spring, her restaurant at Somerset House which has garnered critical acclaim, particularly for its efforts concerning combating food waste in restaurant kitchens. When she’s not cooking in the kitchen, Gyngell has written articles for well-known publications such as The Independent on Sunday and Vogue, while she has also published a handful of cookbooks over the years, including My Favourite Ingredients and How I Cook.
She also has two daughters, Holly and Evie, from her previous marriage to Thomas Gore.
Click here to read more about Skye Gyngell in our Ayala SquareMeal Best Female Chefs Series