Jean-Christophe Novelli began his career at the age of fourteen as a baker in his home-town of Arras, Northern France. By 20, he was head private chef to Elie de Rothschild in Paris.

He arrived in Great Britain in 1983 and went on to spend a year helping his mentor and best friend, Keith Floyd, take care of his pub whilst Keith was away filming his famous TV shows.

In 1996, Jean-Christophe opened his first restaurant, Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell, London, followed quickly by Novelli W8, Novelli EC1 and Les Saveurs in Mayfair. In addition to this, he also launched Novelli at the Cellars, Cape Town's leading five-star Relais et Chateaux Hotel, Moulin de Jean in Normandy, France and was also Chef Consultant for Sea France ferries. Over his career Jean-Christophe has accumulated no less than four consecutive Michelin stars.

Novelli Academy, Jean-Christophe's successful cookery school opened its doors to the public last year in February 2005, and was ranked one of the 'Top 25 Cookery Schools in the World' after only one month.

In January 2006 Jean-Christophe opened his first British gastropub 'A Touch of Novelli' at The White Horse in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. It is the first of ten new planned Novelli gastropubs.

Over the years, some of Jean Christophe's culinary accolades have included 5 AA Rosettes, AA 'Chefs Chef of the Year' 1998, European Chef of the Year, Egon Ronay 'Dessert of the Year 1992' for his famous Jack-in-the-Box dessert, not to mention recently being voted one of the 'Top 100 Sexiest Men in the World' in a New Woman magazine poll of 10,000 readers.

Having established himself as a TV favourite through such programmes as Hell's Kitchen, Jean-Christophe is now bringing his unique talent to UKTV Food, where he can be seen presenting Food Uncut.

Websites
jeanchristophenovelli.com
atouchofnovelli.com

Books
Starters (Master Chefs Classics), Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated, 1997
Your Place or Mine?, Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 1998
"Hell's Kitchen" Cookbook: Kitchen Hell, Food Heaven, Virgin Books, 2005