Three Michelin star chef Simon Rogan hints return to Manchester
16.03.2022 - 18:07
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The chef behind Lake District restaurant L’Enclume, which was awarded its third Michelin star last month, has said that he’d come back to Manchester ‘in a heartbeat’. Simon Rogan famously took over The French restaurant at The Midland Hotel in 2013, with the hope of securing the city’s first Michelin star since the 70s.
While the restaurant was not awarded a star, despite national notoriety, Rogan is now keen to return, hinting that he might already be in the process of looking for a location.
Speaking at the Northern Restaurant and Bar show, he said: “Well you’ve just got to look around, the development, the bars, the excitement around the place.
Read more:L'Enclume wins third Michelin star
“I’ve always enjoyed my time here. Unfortunately it didn’t work out in the long run at The Midland, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t come back here in a heartbeat if the right proposition fell in our lap.
“I have been sworn to secrecy by [Rogan’s restaurant company MD] Sam Ward about what we may or may not be doing.
"We have lots of propositions going on all over the world at the moment, but Manchester is very much in our thoughts, and it’s something we’d really would love to come back to one day.”
Rogan left The French in 2016, after a three year stint in the kitchens, and went on to open the restaurant Fera at Claridge’s in London. Chef Adam Reid later took over the reigns at The French in 2013 as head chef, and then as chef patron when Rogan left in 2016.
As well as L’Enclume in Cartmel, in the Lakes, he now has restaurants all over the world, including Aulis in London, another Aulis in Hong Kong and Henrock, at Linthwaite House in the Lake District.
Rogan added that now that L’Enclume has received its coveted third star, one