Hero Worship: Simon Rogan

If there were a sort of chef equivalent of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, 2013 would have been the year of the Rogan.

If that sounds like hyperbole, think about what you achieved last year, then consider the following: his two Michelin-starred Cumbrian restaurant, l’Enclume, came first in the Waitrose Good Food Guide’s annual top 50, scoring a perfect 10; his takeover of The French at Manchester’s Midland Hotel saw it enter the same guide straight at number 12; his London pop-up Roganic closed after two years of rave reviews. And *pauses for breath* he was named the successor to Gordon Ramsay at the iconic Claridge’s.

Not bad, eh? It has, granted, been a long slog. Years before a stint with Marco Pierre White and opening l’Enclume in 2002, he was a school-leaver frying chips in a Greek restaurant. His training resembles Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential trials at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in reverse. While Bourdain was the suave (in his eyes) New Yorker among talentless hicks, at catering college Rogan was good with kebabs and spuds but felt insecure in comparison to his classically-trained classmates. Yet he ended up top of the pack.

So, Rogan’s story is a good ol’ triumph of perseverance and talent, at the end of which he’s become the darling of the British food scene. For amateur chefs like myself his food is a source of inspiration and envy. And, like a British René Redzepi, he has a reassuring commitment to growing his own, foraging and experimenting with what’s around him. Furthermore, in spite of the fact that most histories of empire-building reveal that being nice doesn’t tend to work, Rogan genuinely seems like a nice, 'cheeky chappie', eminently less irritating than Jamie Oliver.

While Blumenthal and Ramsay have built their empires then steadily diluted them with increasingly inconsistent ‘why don’t we make a massive brew?/where’s the next inept restaurateur?’ programming and self-aggrandisement, Rogan seems solely concerned with making good restaurants and good food; sod the rest of it. Amen to that.