Few chefs in the world can match the Michelin legacy of Raymond Blanc. With over 40 years of continuous Michelin-starred excellence at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, he stands among the most consistent and influential figures in global gastronomy. Yet, as he reveals in this episode, he never chased stars—only excellence. The stars, he insists, were always a by-product. From the electric moment he was told mid-service that he’d earned his second star, to his conscious decision to walk away from a Michelin star at his first brasserie concept because it didn’t align with his vision, Blanc’s relationship with the guide is anything but conventional.

Behind those accolades lies a story that is equal parts grit, instinct and extraordinary luck. Blanc takes us back to his early life in France—hunting, foraging and selling wild ingredients as a teenager before stumbling into his first transformative restaurant experience. From there, his path is anything but linear: training as a nurse, talking his way into a restaurant job by boldly claiming he’d become the best chef in the world, and starting at the very bottom as a cleaner. He recounts learning wine from leftover glasses, studying cookery books obsessively at night, and enduring the brutal realities of old-school kitchens—including the moment a chef smashed a pan into his face, ultimately pushing him to leave France and start over in England.

What follows is a series of almost unbelievable turning points. Arriving in Britain to what he describes as a “frightening” food scene, Blanc quickly found himself cooking after a disastrous kitchen vacancy—despite never formally training as a chef. He shares vivid, often hilarious stories: witnessing chefs mixing trifle with their bare hands, opening his first Oxford restaurant in the economic chaos of the late 70s, scrubbing tar from the walls and discovering rats in the fridge, then somehow winning a Michelin star within two years. From there came the leap to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons—funded largely on reputation and belief—followed by the pressure, failures and triumphs that built it into one of the most revered restaurants in the world.

Now stepping back after decades at the top, Blanc reflects with honesty and warmth on legacy, leadership and letting go. He discusses choosing his successor, the philosophy behind training dozens of future Michelin-starred chefs, and his determination to reshape kitchen culture into something kinder, more supportive and more human. Along the way, he shares the wild story of how a near-disastrous TV deal led to the creation of the London Cocktail Club, his deliberate reinvention of casual dining with Brasserie Blanc, and why hospitality, at its core, is about giving people the best moment of their lives. This is a portrait of a chef who didn’t just earn stars—he redefined what they mean.

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AdeJoké Bakare joins us for a truly special interview at Chishuru, the Michelin-starred Fitzrovia restaurant that has become one of London’s most exciting dining destinations. As the UK’s only Black female Michelin-starred chef, and only the second in the world, Joké’s rise is extraordinary not just for what she has achieved, but for how she got there: without the traditional fine-dining route, without years in elite kitchens, and while building a style of cooking that many people in Britain had never properly encountered before.

In this conversation, she takes us through the long road to Chishuru, from growing up in Nigeria and studying biomedical sciences, to moving to the UK in 1999 and spending years with food as a private obsession rather than a full-time profession. She shares stories of selling fish and chips from a cart at university, cooking around church communities, hosting punishing early supper clubs, and eventually taking a chance on a Brixton Market pop-up after winning a competition in 2019. From there, the story only gets wilder: learning on the job, persuading landlords to take her seriously, opening her first proper restaurant, and then winning a Michelin star just five months later.

But what makes this interview so rich is the way Joké talks about the food itself: the memories tied to it, the regional Nigerian dishes she felt compelled to preserve, and the resistance she faced from diners who expected one version of West African cooking and found something far more personal, historical and ambitious. She speaks beautifully about introducing guests to dishes they may not know how to approach, translating flavours that do not fit neatly into European ideas of balance, and protecting culinary traditions that risk being lost. The result is a conversation packed with humour, honesty and emotion — a portrait of a chef who has not only changed London dining, but has done it entirely on her own terms.

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In this episode of Mise en Place, we sit down with Jan Ostle of Wilson’s in Bristol for a conversation that stretches far beyond the pass. Recorded inside the restaurant’s remarkable 100-year-old bakery, this is a vivid, funny and deeply human story about how one of the UK’s most exciting restaurants came to be — and the messy, unpredictable journey behind it.

Jan takes us right back to the beginning: leaving school early, feeling out of place, and discovering a sense of belonging for the first time in the chaos of a professional kitchen. From pot-washing in Oxford to the intensity of kitchens like Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and The Square, he speaks with total honesty about failure, fear, addiction and the long, uneven path to finding his voice — not just as a chef, but as a person.

At the centre of it all is Wilson’s — a restaurant built not on polish or perfection, but on instinct, partnership and community. Jan shares the story of building it alongside Mary, taking on the old bakery next door during Covid, and shaping something that reflects their values rather than the expectations of the industry. It’s a story about family, about Bristol’s support for independent restaurants, and about creating a place that feels genuinely welcoming rather than exclusive.

This is Jan Ostle unfiltered: thoughtful, self-deprecating, chaotic and deeply sincere. He talks openly about the pressures of running a restaurant, the emotional weight of responsibility, and why — despite everything — he still loves this industry. Honest, moving and often very funny, this is one of our most revealing conversations yet.

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Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com

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