Meet Emily Roux – the new Star in Town

This February Emily Roux was awarded her first Michelin star for her Notting Hill restaurant Caractère with her husband, Diego Ferrari, where they serve a menu taking influence from Diego’s Italian and Emily’s French heritage with an emphasis on relaxed dining.  Women In the Food Industry Ambassador, Antonia Lloyd, interviewed trailblazer Emily to find out more about her road to success, future ambitions, and what’s coming up this spring.

Belonging to Britain’s most formidable culinary dynasty, Emily Roux is the daughter of Michel Roux Jr and grand-daughter to the late Albert Roux OBE, who grew up surrounded by culinary greatness and steeped in the artistry and refinement that her family created at Le Gavroche – the first British restaurant to achieve three Michelin stars. So far so intimidating but not so for this powerhouse of a chef.

When did you and your husband Diego come up with the concept for the restaurant Caractère and what did you think would be key to its success?

We came up with the concept of Caractère a couple of years before opening the restaurant itself. We basically wanted to create a restaurant that we would both really enjoy dining out at several times during the year. A restaurant that delivers amazing food that you probably couldn’t recreate at home, with warm, friendly service. Somewhere you can just relax and enjoy the evening without it feeling too stuffy or pretentious.

How much has the Italian and French culinary style of Caractère and the plates you serve today evolved since the restaurant opened in 2018?

The plates have evolved immensely since opening – Diego and I are two extremely ambitious chefs, and we have never stopped pushing. I think we try and do better every single day, we try and make the dishes even more and more interesting, more complex in flavour, and also beautiful to the eye. I don’t think we’ll ever stop that quest to do better and better and get better and better. Achieving our first Michelin star is absolutely amazing, but I don’t think we’ll stop at that. We would love to have a second star one day, however long that may take. We’re hugely passionate about what we do, and we love what we do, so I think that we’ll definitely try and go further.

@lateef.photography

Coming from the Roux family which has always prided itself on culinary excellence, was getting a Michelin star a goal for you and what does it mean to you personally to have achieved it this year?

Getting a Michelin star was definitely a goal of ours when opening the restaurant, but we knew that would take time. Obviously, this was also our first business venture, so I think you learn so much along the way as well. You make mistakes and you learn from them, and I think we, both ourselves and the company, have evolved so much during that time. Getting a Michelin star was a big goal, and we are hugely, hugely happy for the team to receive this accolade this year. It really is a team effort in that all the members of staff have a little piece of the star.

Almost 90% of our team members have been with us for a minimum of two years, so it really shows that the dedication, the passion, and the work we do together has come to fruition and we’re incredibly proud of them all. Hopefully, it’s now onwards and upwards and we will continue to work together as well as we can, and who knows, maybe achieve something else. It’s also a personal achievement – most of my family members who are in the hospitality industry have more than one star so there’s definitely a little challenge there behind the scenes to potentially achieve more one day! With the Roux Scholarship as well, I’ve been on the judging panel since last year, so it’s comforting to know I’m reaching the level of the other fantastic judges, and I’m really chuffed about it.

What has been the most challenging aspect to running the restaurant?

We’ve been through so many challenges to be honest, since 2018. The obvious ones are Covid and Brexit, which I think were difficult for all businesses across the UK, but it was definitely very challenging for hospitality. We also became parents, twice, during that time, so we’ve had a lot of challenges! Not to mention that we’re a very small restaurant and obviously all the political problems and strikes, things like that also affect us. I feel like we’ve endured a lot since 2018, and it’s been a challenging time for our little family-run business. That being said, I feel that if we’ve survived everything we have up until now, the future can only be easier and brighter. I hope!

@JodiHindsPhotographer

As co-owner with Diego, how do you and he divide your time at the restaurant?

Diego and I divide our time very differently. On a day-to-day basis, I look after all the pastry, he looks after the savoury, and he also looks after our suppliers. I look after HR, invoices, basic accountancy, social media, newsletters, answering emails and phone calls, everything I can get my hands on! We both have a lot to do but we share our workload very evenly and jump in and out of things to help each other as best we can.

With spring approaching, what are you most excited about from a menu point of view coming up at the restaurant?

I absolutely love spring; it’s one of my favourite seasons. I love green peas, asparagus, fresh morels are so delicious, too. There’s so much beautiful greenery coming through in spring and that’s something we’ll be incorporating into our menu. We’re trialling some new dishes at the moment so hopefully they’ll all be ready to go by next week, and we’ll have a beautiful new menu with some spring touches. Very much looking forward to that!

As a trailblazing woman in the industry and a mother too, what advice would you give women starting out today about how to succeed?

Being a mother to two little boys, running the restaurant is definitely not easy. It requires a lot of juggling and a lot of organisation, and, to be honest, a lot of help from my parents with the children. But frankly, it’s also a great buzz – I do love being busy and I feel like I get that from my family and from the restaurant. My advice would really be just to stay true to who you are, keep your head down, and do the hard work. I also very much believe that every person’s time will come, and sometimes patience is needed because work does pay off in the end. We’ve waited six years to get our first Michelin star. Work hard, keep your head down, produce amazing food and be consistent with that. It may take time, but it does pay off.

April Lily Partridge won The Roux Scholarship in 2023

At Women In the Food Industry, we look forward to following Emily’s next Michelin starred chapter at Caractère and also the judging of the Roux Scholarship 2025. With 18 talented chefs shortlisted for the regional finals, including four women, the highest number to date, the Roux family remains critical to the shaping of Britain’s fine dining future stars.

Find out more about The Roux Scholarship here.

You may also be interested in our interviews with the following chefs: 

Ruth Hansom on making the Roux Scholarship finals in 2022 and Olivia Burt on making the Roux Scholarship finals in 2022. Plus read our ambassador Antonia Lloyd’s interview with April Lily Partridge on winning the Roux Scholarship in 2023.