2004
Andrew Jones
“The best bit of advice I can give is that if you are unsure on the day, ask. There are a lot of judges there and they want you to succeed. They want you to achieve good cooking.”
Andrew Jones won the Roux Scholarship in 2004 at the age of 27, it was his third time in the finals. He did his stage with Michel Bras in Laguiole, France.
Andrew follows the footsteps of his father who is also a chef and first had experience of the kitchen working with him at weekends, first as a pot-washer and then progressing to other jobs. He went on to train at South East Essex Technical college. Andrew started his career at Claridge’s rising through the ranks to be Premier Sous Chef, and it was during this time time that Andrew won the Roux Scholarship. In 2008, after more than 12 years at Claridge’s, Andrew moved to The Westbury as Executive Chef, and then in 2011 he took the role of head chef of Chamberlain’s in London, where he catered in several royal palaces and cooked for members of the British Royal Family.
In June 2019, after a short period travelling and working as a consultant chef, Andrew took up the role of executive chef at Viceroy Hotels and Resorts' Sugar Beach Resort in St Lucia where he led the culinary team across their six restaurant and bar venues – ranging from a beachside restaurant to fine dining with personalised menus. Andrew brought together local, seasonal ingredients with modern, European cooking styles. After 25 years in London, Andrew enjoyed the better weather and the chance to live 15 minutes from work, with a ‘commute’ that went through a rainforest and past a volcano.
In September 2020, Andrew had another change of scene and took a new role with Viceroy Hotels and Resorts' new hotel in the mountains at Kopaonik in Serbia, a 119-room ski-in, ski-out resort with four dining venues.
Where did you do your stage?
I went to Michel Bras in Laguiole. What I learnt from Michel Bras was respect for your ingredients. They are what makes you a good cook. The dishes on the menu were often very simple and they weren’t trying to make the ingredients into something they weren’t by messing around with them. The stage also gave me the time to consider how to get the most out of my chefs and how to build a team.
What advice would you give applicants?
I’ve had a lot of chefs come to me for advice on the scholarship since I won. The best bit of advice I can give is that if you are unsure on the day, ask. There are a lot of judges there and they want you to succeed. They want you to achieve good cooking.