Raymond Blanc

Infobox Chef
name = Raymond Blanc


caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1949|11|19|mf=y
birthplace = Besançon, France
deathdate =
deathplace =
style = French
education =
ratings = Michelin stars Rating|2|3
Good Food Guide Rating|9|10
restaurants = Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
prevrests =
television =
awards =
website = http://www.manoir.com/

Raymond Blanc (born November 19, 1949) is a French chef, born in Besançon, France, and now based in the United Kingdom.

Blanc is the owner and chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scores 9/10 in the "Good Food Guide".

Blanc opened the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, Le Petit Blanc restaurants in Oxford in June 1996. Blanc's aim with these was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom. His desire was to create and serve food that can be enjoyed by everyone - "from the time conscious business person to those looking for a welcoming family restaurant".

In June 2003, the four Le Petit Blanc Brasseries (now known as Brasserie Blanc) [http://www.lepetitblanc.co.uk] in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Manchester and Oxford became part of the Loch Fyne Restaurant Group [http://www.lochfyne.com/] portfolio. Since then a fifth restaurant has opened in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and another in Winchester. Blanc maintains a share in the business and continues to be actively involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants.

On 13th January 2007, he appeared on Saturday Kitchen. In the Omelette Challenge, he came out last because he took the longest to cook an omelette. However, he was nudged up a few places by James Martin, right above Ken Hom, as Blanc produced a black truffle out of his pocket and garnished the finished omelette with truffle shavings.

Summer 2007 saw the BBC promo for his new reality TV programme "The Restaurant" airing on UK television. The promo showed a group of well-dressed diners in a slow-mo food fight, to a Gonzales backing track. The show was aired as part of BBC Two's autumn season in 2007 and returned, with minor changes to the format, in 2008.

Blanc is the author of several books, including "Cooking for Friends" and "Foolproof French Cookery".

Blanc is one of the patrons of the Children's Food Festival.

His son, Olivier Blanc, works as an assistant director on Talkback Thames' The Bill

External links

* [http://www.raymondblanc.com/ Raymond Blanc official website]
* [http://www.hub-uk.com/chefsbios/raymondblanc.htm Hub UK biography]
* [http://www.sirc.org/articles/white_lies.shtml Social Issues Research Centre article on Blanc's war on sugar]
* [http://www.the-best-chefs.com/kuechenchefs/index.html?no_cache=1&L=1&clean=1&tx_dbk_pi1%5Buid%5D=8756 Who´s Who of Chefs information]
* [http://www.knowcal.co.uk/french-restaurants/UK/?who=Blanc Map of 'Brasserie Blanc' Restaurants in the UK]