Gary Rhodes built a career around British food at a time when its traditional dishes were often in need of a new public audience. As a chef, restaurateur, television presenter and cookbook author, he made classics including faggots, fishcakes, braised oxtails and bread and butter pudding central to his restaurant menus and broadcasts. His work moved between ambitious kitchens and popular television, joining the discipline of fine dining to an accessible interest in familiar cooking.
Training and the early kitchens
Rhodes was born in Camberwell, south London, on 22 April 1960. His family moved to Gillingham in Kent, where he attended The Howard School in Rainham. He later studied at catering college in Thanet, where he met Jennie, whom he married in 1989.
His first job was at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. After being struck by a Ford Transit van in Amsterdam and suffering serious injuries, he worked in various jobs around Europe. He returned to Britain and became sous chef at the Reform Club in Pall Mall, then moved to the Michelin-starred Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge. There he worked under chef Brian Turner.
Rhodes became head chef at the Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset. He retained its Michelin star when he was 26, an early distinction in a career that would bring further recognition. The television chef Keith Floyd watched him prepare roast oxtail for the programme Floyd on Britain & Ireland, an early encounter between Rhodes’s cooking and a wider television audience.
Making British classics his signature
In 1990, Rhodes moved back to London with his family to become head chef at The Greenhouse in Mayfair. Its menu became known for reworking British dishes, among them faggots, fishcakes, braised oxtails and bread and butter pudding. The approach was not a rejection of tradition but a way of bringing established recipes into a contemporary restaurant setting. In January 1996, The Greenhouse received a Michelin star.
Rhodes opened City Rhodes in 1997 and Rhodes in the Square in 1998, both in partnership with the contract catering company Sodexo. The businesses extended into Rhodes & Co brasseries in Manchester, Edinburgh and Crawley. City Rhodes and Rhodes in the Square closed in 2003. These ventures show the range of his restaurant career: from the exacting setting of a Mayfair kitchen to a group of restaurants reaching diners in several cities.
In 2003, he opened Rhodes Twenty Four on the 24th floor of Tower 42 in the City of London. The restaurant won a Michelin star in 2005 and retained it until it closed in 2014. Rhodes also ran restaurants beyond London, including Rhodes Calabash in Grenada and venues aboard P&O ships. His businesses took different forms and had different lifespans; the London restaurants, in particular, mark a substantial chapter in his career rather than a single uninterrupted enterprise.
Television, books and a wider audience
Rhodes first appeared on television at 27, through chef Glynn Christian’s programme Hot Chefs. The BBC series Rhodes Around Britain followed in 1994. In 1999 he presented Gary Rhodes’ New British Classics, accompanied by a book of the same name. The series gave him a direct way to revisit British cooking for viewers at home, as well as restaurant customers.
He also presented Gary’s Rhodes’ Perfect Christmas and appeared on MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen. For two seasons, in 2000 and 2001, he hosted the original American MasterChef on PBS. His television work was not confined to British food: Rhodes Across India and Rhodes Across China explored other cuisines. The contrast matters to his story. His reputation was strongly associated with English ingredients and British classics, but his programmes also took him and his audiences elsewhere.
His books included Rhodes Around Britain and New British Classics. Alongside his broadcasts, they carried his interest in traditional food beyond restaurant dining. Rhodes also developed a line of cookware and bread mixes and contributed to BBC Good Food magazine. His name appeared on Tate & Lyle sugar sachets through a commercial partnership, and he took part in a Cooking in Schools campaign with Flora UK. These activities made him a recognisable figure not only in professional kitchens but in the everyday food culture of the period.
Later restaurants and public life
In 2006, Rhodes was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. That year he competed for the South of England in the BBC’s Great British Menu. He also appeared on the spoof game show Shooting Stars and, in 2008, competed in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, finishing in 14th place.
Rhodes moved to Dubai in 2011. He headed Rhodes Mezzanine, later known as Rhodes W1 Dubai, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, and ran Rhodes Twenty10 at Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa. In 2013 he opened Rhodes 44 at The St. Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The move extended his restaurant work into the Gulf, while his earlier career had already included ventures in London, other British cities, Grenada and on cruise ships.
Rhodes died in Dubai on 26 November 2019, aged 59. He had become unwell while filming, and his family later said that he died as a result of a subdural haematoma. His career left a record across kitchens, restaurants, books and television, with the revival and presentation of British classics remaining a defining thread.
Why Gary Rhodes deserves a place in British Legacy
Gary Rhodes deserves a place in British Legacy because he made the cooking of Britain a sustained subject of serious restaurant work and popular broadcasting. At The Greenhouse, dishes such as faggots, fishcakes, braised oxtails and bread and butter pudding appeared on a menu that earned a Michelin star. Later, New British Classics brought the same interest into a television series and a book. The significance lies in that combination: he treated familiar food as worthy of care and technique, then used media that could reach people well beyond the dining room.
His contribution was not limited to a single restaurant or programme. Rhodes worked across several British venues and took his restaurant businesses abroad, while his broadcasts ranged from British cooking to programmes about India and China. Books, television appearances, cookware and food partnerships extended his public presence into home kitchens and everyday food culture. His career offers a specific British legacy: a chef who connected the country’s culinary traditions with contemporary fine dining and mass-audience media. That record is more substantial than a claim that he simply championed national cuisine; it can be traced through the dishes he served, the restaurants he led and the programmes and books through which he shared his interest in them.
Sources
Adapted in part from Gary Rhodes by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.
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