From Pastry, by Michel Roux

Pastry, by Michel Roux is published by Quadrille publishing.

Michel Roux is a French-born restaurateur, and modern day legend whose style represents a culinary benchmark.

Born in Charolles, Roux moved to Paris with his family after the war, where they set up a charcuterie. At the age of fourteen he became a patissier and later followed his elder brother Albert back to Paris to work as a chef.

When Albert moved to London, Michel again followed him, and in 1967 they opened their first restaurant, Le Gavroche, which became the first restaurant in Britain to gain one, two and then three Michelin stars. In 1972 they opened the Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire.

Michel was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France for patisserie in 1972 and an honorary OBE alongside his brother in 2002 and is the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

In a poll of UK chefs carried out by Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine in 2003, Michel and his brother Albert were voted the most influential chefs in the country. Michel Roux's son, Alain Roux, currently runs the Waterside Inn in Bray.

They were the first to sponsor young chefs into their own business, among them being Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire and Christian Germain at Chateau de Montreuil in France. They were unique benefactors, as they not only organised the backers, personally guaranteed the chef’s bank loan, but wrote in the contract that no shareholder could refuse to sell their shares back to the Chef Patron