Chefs Get Personal with Justine Murphy – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Justine interviews Chef Jeremy Chan as he shares about his journey in the industry, his team’s strategies to develop his restaurant and winning two Michelin stars. 

Born in the North West of England, Jeremy’s journey into professional kitchens was far from traditional. An intuitive academic, his early years through to adulthood were spent soaking up the ever-changing world around him. Sciences, languages, arts - nothing within or outwith school escaped his restless enthusiasm. However, his one constant in all this was food, and he early recognised its link to his studies, the senses, and the part culture played too.

This analytical mindset led him to university, and after graduating in Languages and Philosophy, he found himself back in Europe working in business for two years. 

A chance conversation with childhood friend and now- business partner, Iré Hassan-Odukale ignited a spark around the possibilities of new restaurant concept. A period of intensive research ensued and what emerged was a series of new dishes with unique international flavour profiles and a desire to forge a new culinary narrative. For almost five years, he worked tirelessly, absorbing every last bit of information, taking notes, researching in his free time and immersing himself in the physical and mental repetition of acquiring skill and technique to master the craft of cheffing.

Chan immersed himself in the culture and tastes of a new world of flavour and began combining his culinary skills and ideas with British ingredients. A series of new dishes with unique international flavour profiles emerged, driven solely by his search for ‘deliciousness’, and the concept of Ikoyi was born.

Working directly with select British farmers, fishermen and producers, the kitchen is driven by a totally objective, creative reaction to micro-seasonality and often overlooked ingredients in terms of context and culture. A pure, personal expression through Jeremy’s analytical lens, dishes harness flavour highs while respecting the nature of each ingredient. The result are menus that surprise the senses with a balance of heat and umami, with dishes imagined in the first instance artistically for visual impact and only then are recipes created.

Website: www.ikoyilondon.com

Instagram: @jeremychanikoyi & @ikoyi_london

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Be part of our culinary community, use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs .

Learn with mymuybueno Academy of Culinary Arts with all the amazing chefs teaching on our online academy.

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn 

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In this episode, Justine interviews Chef Sat Bains as he shares about his heart attack, the struggles he faced being in an interracial relationship and 25 years of his restaurant, Restaurant Sat Bains.

Sat Bains is a distinguished British chef, born on February 28, 1971, in Derb. Known for his innovative culinary skills, he is the chef proprietor of the two-Michelin-star Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in Nottingham. His culinary journey began at Derby College, where his interest in cooking took a professional turn. Bains's passion for the culinary arts was ignited by his work at various esteemed establishments and under notable chefs, including Raymond Blanc.

Bains's most significant accolade came in 1999 when he won the prestigious Roux Scholarship, allowing him to enhance his skills in France. His restaurant in Nottingham was awarded its first Michelin star in 2003, becoming the first in the city to achieve this honour, and later received a second Michelin star in 2011. The restaurant has also been awarded five rosettes by the AA.

In addition to his Michelin stars, Bains has been recognized with numerous awards and honours. He was named the Chef's Chef of the Year by Restaurant magazine in 2009 and received the Which? Good Food Guide Chef of the Year in 2011. 

This year as Sat celebrates 25 years on Lenton Lane, he reflects on the Legacy of chefs and front of house that have come through the restaurant to go on to achieve their own successes like Gareth Ward and Tom Spencley amongst many more. Publishing his second book with a large focus on heart health following his own recovery from a heart attack in 2021.

Website: www.restaurantsatbains.com

Instagram: @satbains1

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Be part of our culinary community, use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs.

Learn with mymuybueno Academy of Culinary Arts with all the amazing chefs teaching on our online academy.

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn 

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In this episode Justine interviews the inspiring Two Michelin star chef of Da Terra, Rafael Cagali.

Originally from São Paulo in Brazil, Rafael started his career in London at the age of 21. Inspired by his Italian heritage, young Cagali then took to Italy to work under Chef Stefano Baiocco at A Villa Feltrinelli where he spent over 3 years. Later in another European excursion, he began growing his career after travelling to Spain to work for Chef Quique Dacosta and Martin Berasategui. 

After returning to England, Cagali joined the team at famed restaurant The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal where he had an honourable stagiare position and after graduating took on the role of their Chef de Partie. From there, he went onto work with Simon Rogan at Fera at Claridges. Leading the Aulis in Fera, Rafael carried on there as head chef. 

In January 2019, Rafael opened his first restaurant Da Terra in Bethnal Green, London. With Cagali as executive chef after only 8 months, and followed by hard work and dedication, Da Terra gained its first Michelin star. And just 1 year later, following a very eventful 2020, the restaurant was awarded their second star in the Michelin guide of 2021. Rafael Cagali’s experimental cuisine is inspired by the flavours of his origins and influences of his culinary experiences throughout his career.

Instagram: @rafacagali and @daterrarestaurant and @elis.ldn

Website: daterra.co.uk and restaurantelis.co.uk

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews the renowned Chef John Williams of The Ritz, London as he shares his advice for aspiring chefs and so many more pearls of wisdom.

Loved by our royal family, Williams joined The Ritz London as Executive Chef in 2004, bringing three decades of hospitality experience to the venerated kitchens of the legendary Piccadilly hotel. 

Taught by his mother to cook, Williams developed his passion for food at an early age, his culinary career began in 1974 with his first position as a Commis Chef in Otterburn. Young Williams soon started work at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, later becoming their Chef de Cuisine in 1982. In 1986, Williams joined the distinguished Savoy Group of Hotels and Restaurants, during his 18-year tenure, he served as Premier Sous Chef at Claridge’s and Maître Chef des Cuisines at The Berkeley, before his move to head up Claridge’s kitchens as Maître Chefs des Cuisines in 1995. 

Williams is a man adorned with many awards, being appointed Executive Chairman of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in 2004 and awarded the Pierre Taittinger International Award and the Craft Guild of Chefs Award in 2000. In 2005, he became the first British Chef to be conferred with a CMA by the French Government. And in 2008, he received the ultimate accolade when he was awarded as MBE in the New Year’s Honour List by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to hospitality. He is the recipient of a Royal Warrant for Banqueting and Catering Services from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, making The Ritz the first and only hotel to receive this prestigious accolade. In 2013, Tatler awarded Williams with their Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual Restaurant Awards. 

Catering for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 70th and 80th birthday banquets as well as several private dinners for the Royal family at The Ritz and state functions at Buckingham Palace. 

Williams says, “I have always had a great love of The Ritz and for its time-honoured traditions. The forward-thinking methods and beliefs of Escoffier, the friend and collaborator of our founder Cesar Ritz, have influenced my career significantly and it is a pleasure and an honour to be part of culinary history at this great hotel”. 

Instagram: @theritzlondon and @johnwilliamschef

Website: theritzlondon.com/john-williams and theritzlondon.com/cookbook/

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews the legend that is Wolfgang Puck as he shares about his 29 years of catering the Oscars and so much more.

A name that is synonymous with the best of restaurant hospitality and the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts. The famed 2-Michelin star chef has built a brand encompassing three companies. Puck is also more widely known of late as the official chef catering for the Governors Ball, the Academy Award’s post-Oscars celebration, which he has been doing for 29 years.

Puck began cooking as a child, at his mother’s side. She was a chef in the Austrian town where he was born, and with her encouragement, Wolfgang started his formal training at fourteen years of age. As a young chef he worked in some of France’s greatest restaurants, including Maxim’s in Paris, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and the Michelin 3-starred L’Oustau de Baumanière in Provence.

In 1975, Wolfgang went to Los Angeles and very quickly garnered the attention of the Hollywood elite as chef of Ma Maison in West Hollywood. His dynamic personality and culinary brilliance that bridged tradition and invention made Ma Maison a magnet for the rich and famous, with Wolfgang as the star attraction.

From Ma Maison, Wolfgang went on to create his first flagship restaurant, Spago, originally located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. From its opening day in 1982, Spago was an instant success and culinary phenomenon. His early signature dishes, such as haute cuisine pizzas topped with smoked salmon and caviar, and Sonoma baby lamb with braised greens and rosemary, put him and Spago on the gourmet map, not just in Los Angeles but throughout the world. Puck has gone on to open a cult of hugely successful restaurants across the globe and in September 2011, Puck opened his first European venture, CUT in London at the new 45 Park Lane from The Dorchester Collection.

He is the only chef to have won the Outstanding Chef of the Year Award multiple times.

Instagram: @wolfgangpuck and @45parklane and @spagobh

Website: CUT, London and Wolfgang Puck

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode, Justine interviews the legend that is Chef Pierre Koffmann. Pierre is a 3-Michelin star chef with more than 55 years’ experience in the kitchen.

Pierre was born in Tarbes, in southwest France, to a family that had farmed for generations. His love of food came from the cooking of his mother and grandmother. One of the greatest pleasures was sucking the juices from string that had been used to tie up meat for roasting.

From such simple pleasures, you might imagine that Pierre was almost born to cook. You’d be wrong. His first thought after being invited to leave school at the age of 14 was to join the SNCF national railway. He only opted for culinary college when he realized the holidays were longer.

Pierre had found his calling, and trained in restaurants across France, venturing as far as Strasbourg and learning the regional differences in cooking that were so pronounced in France at that time. He also crossed the border into Switzerland, working in Lausanne before deciding to set out to England to watch the England vs France rugby match in 1970. After that, he never left, though he says the food in the UK was shockingly bad.

He went to work at Le Gavroche under Michel and Albert Roux, rising to sous chef. The brothers then asked him to open the Waterside Inn, which (like Le Gavroche) went on to win three Michelin stars. Pierre left to open his own restaurant, La Tante Claire, in 1977, where he won three stars in his own right, serving a refined version of the rustic cooking of his youth. His most famous dish of stuffed pig’s trotter still appears on menus around the world.

His books include the classic “Memories of Gascony” and the James Beard Award-winning “Classic Koffmann.”

He retired in 2003 and was only persuaded to return to the stove when he was invited to open a two-week pop-up on the roof of Selfridges in 2009. Such was the demand, two weeks turned into two months. Pierre then went on to open Koffmann’s restaurant at The Berkeley hotel in 2010­. The original plan was for three years, though Pierre lasted for six, enjoying going into the kitchen each day as much as ever.

Pierre mentored a generation of chefs. Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Jason Atherton, Tom Aikens and Tom Kitchin are among the Tante Claire alumni, while a younger generation, including Tiffany Lo in Hong Kong, graduated from Koffmann’s. This may be his greatest legacy, though he’ll remain best known for his most famous dish from La Tante Claire.

“I know what it’s going to say on my gravestone,” he says. “Pig’s trotter.”

Instagram: @pierre.koffman and @thefoodheroesfamily

Thank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.

Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews Chef James Knappett as he shares about his incredibly inspiring journey, working with some of the world’s best chefs.

James Knappett is chef patron and co-founder of Kitchen Table. Born in Soham, Cambridgeshire, James had an early interest in cooking and attended a Cambridgeshire catering college before moving to London and landing formative positions at the likes of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, The Berkeley and The Ledbury. Following a number of fulfilling years in the hospitality industry in the city, he relocated to Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow for three years. In 2005 he ventured further afield to world-renowned restaurant, Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York and then to the renowned Noma in Copenhagen. 

James and his wife, Sandia Chang, opened Kitchen Table in September 2012, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2014, followed by a coveted second Michelin star in 2018. Since opening 8 years ago, the restaurant has been celebrated for offering a dining experience that encourages full interaction with the chefs and showcases remarkable acts of kitchen theatre.

Website: https://kitchentablelondon.co.uk

Instagram: @jamesknappett and @kitchentable1

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews Chef Andreas Caminada as he shares about what inspires him most and his solid advice for chefs starting in their career paths now.

Andreas Caminada was born in Ilanz 1977 and is a Swiss chef and gastronomic entrepreneur. Since 2003, Caminada is leaseholder at Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau, Grison, which offers a fine dining restaurant as well as 9 guestrooms and suites. Caminada had been awarded with 3 Michelin stars and 19 Gault Millau points by the age of 34 in 2010. His restaurant at Schloss Schauenstein has been on the list of the World's Best Restaurants since 2011 and on OAD’s Top100 since 2014. 

Instagram Andreas: andreas_caminada_schauenstein

Instagram Restaurant: schloss_schauenstein

Website: www.andreascaminada.com

Justine reviewed Schloss Schauenstein for mymuybueno Visits, which you can read here.

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews Sven Wassmer as he shares about his passion for Swiss alpine cuisine, and getting his third Michelin star after the pandemic. 

Sven grew up in Frick, Aargau, and completed a chef’s apprenticeship at the Swissôtel in Basel between 2003 and 2006. He then gained experience in various top restaurants in Switzerland and neighbouring countries. As Chef Pâtisserie and Chef de Partie Garde Manger, he worked at Andreas Caminada’s Schloss Schauenstein restaurant in Fürstenau (three Michelin stars) from 2009 to 2010. He was then sous chef at the Viajante restaurant in London and at the Park Hotel Vitznau under Chef Nenad Mlinarevic.

At the end of 2014, he became head chef at Restaurant 7132 Silver at Hotel 7132 in Vals, which was awarded one Michelin star in 2016 and two Michelin stars in 2017. In 2018, Wassmer was guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus in Salzburg’s Hangar 7.

In 2019, Wassmer became Culinary Director at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. In this role, he designed and implemented the concept of the Memories and verve by sven restaurants. On 1 July 2019, his signature restaurant Memories, which seats 30, opened at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, which was awarded its third Michelin star in 2022 as well as a green Michelin star. The restaurant verve by sven was awarded one Michelin star in 2021. Since 2017, Wassmer’s restaurants have each achieved 18 points in the Gault-Millau.

Wassmer describes his style as Swiss Alpine cuisine.

Instagram: @svenwassmer 

Website: www.svenwassmer.com

Restaurant: www.memories.ch

Justine reviewed Memories for mymuybueno Visits, which you can read here.

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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In this episode Justine interviews Jules Wiringa as he shares about his favourite ingredients, what advice he has to impart for chefs today and insight into the chef we all know and love as Jules Cooking.

Ever since Jules was a little boy he wanted to become a chef, he always loved to cook and be creative with ingredients. Working in his Mother’s garden or helping his Father with cooking his signature pasta. At a young age he started working in small kitchens and at the age of fifteen he made his very first Jules Cooking video. In that same year Jules had his first experience in a Michelin star restaurant, Oud Sluis, at that time, the best restaurant in The Netherlands and awarded with three Michelin stars. He did a short internship for school, but from that day on Jules knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, cook. 

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Since then Jules has worked at different high class restaurants: Restaurant Ron Blaauw**, Restaurant Moon, Restaurant Drac*, Restaurant La Rive* and restaurant De Bokkedoorns**. He has learnt a lot over the years and now I try to share this experience with everyone via his Jules Cooking You Tube channel, Instagram platform and more.

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You can follow Jules below to stay tuned and stay inspired with all he has going on ahead.

Website: www.julescooking.com

Instagram: @julescooking

You Tube: @JulesCookingGlobal

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Follow Justine on Instagram to keep up to date with all her restaurant visits and more. For all things mymuybueno, head to The mymuybueno Group here too.

Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs

#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

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