Jean-Christophe Novelli

About

Jean-Christophe Novelli is a French celebrity chef.

Jean-Christophe began his career as a baker in his home town of Arras, France. When he was 19 he worked at a chain of restaurants, PLM St Jacques, which was owned by the Rothschild family. Then he became the private chef to Eli Rothschild’s son.

At 22 Jean-Christophe Novelli moved to Britain and his reputation as a quality chef started to spread. Rick Stein introduced him to Keith Floyd, and he became chef-manager of Keith Floyd’s restaurant, the Maltsters Arms.

Novelli moved on and won his first Michelin star whilst chef patron at Provencein Lymington, Hampshire. Whilst there he also won the Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year Award. Ever since Jean-Christophe has been renowned for his spectacular desserts.

In 1996, Jean-Christophe, opened four restaurants in London, and so began the foundations for his internationally based mini empire. What is so surprising is that he only had £500 in his pocket to start this solo venture. In nine months he had expanded his operations to a range of restaurants not only in London but also Cape Town.

After putting these restaurants on the international map, Jean-Christophe decided to move on to new ventures. Jean’s passion for passing on his wealth of culinary knowledge to others, led him to his desire to open his own cookery school; The Novelli Academy. It opened its doors on April 22nd 2005 and within three months, was voted amongst the ‘Top 25 Cookery Schools in the World’.

TV Chef

Jean-Christophe has become a celebrity in his own right through a number of TV appearances. He became one of two Head Chefs in the second series of Hell’s Kitchen. Then the following year he  appeared on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, performing in a group with fellow chefs Aldo Zilli, Paul Rankin and Ross Burden.

In 2010 he teamed up with the Potato Council for a nationwide competition called Master Spud. The comp gave the winner a chance to star alongside him in a national TV advert.

Jean-Christophe got an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Bedfordshire for his 30 years of dedication to his craft and outstanding achievements in cooking. He is only the 3rd Chef in history to achieve this recognition.

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