Gary Rhodes Autumn into Winter Gary Rhodes Spring into Summer Hell's Kitchen Masterchef USA MasterChefUK New British Classics Nov/Dec Gary's Perfect Christmas Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes Open Rhodes Around Britain More Rhodes Around Britain Rhodes Around Britain Hot Chefs Rhodes Across India Rhodes Across China Rhodes Across the Caribbean
Gary RhodesOBE (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019)[1] was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as MasterChef, MasterChef USA, Hell's Kitchen, and his own series, Rhodes Around Britain. As well as owning several restaurants, Rhodes also had his own line of cookware and bread mixes.[2] Rhodes went on to feature in the ITV1 programme Saturday Cooks, as well as the UKTV Food show Local Food Hero before his sudden death at age 59.
In 1990, Rhodes returned to London with his family to become head chef at The Greenhouse restaurant in Mayfair. The menu became known for reviving British classics, including faggots, fishcakes, braised oxtails and bread and butter pudding.[5] He was awarded a Michelin star for The Greenhouse in January 1996. In 1997 he opened his first restaurant, City Rhodes, and in 1998 Rhodes in the Square, both in London with global contract catering company Sodexo.[9] This partnership expanded into the brasseries Rhodes &CoinManchester, Edinburgh and Crawley.[10]
In 2003, following the closure of the restaurants City Rhodes and Rhodes in the Square,[11] he opened Rhodes Twenty Four in one of London's tallest buildings, Tower 42. Rhodes described his hopes for the restaurant on its launch: "If we never get a Michelin star here, I will be very disappointed, but what I really want is customers."[12] It won a Michelin star in 2005,[13] which it retained as one of Rhodes' two Michelin-starred restaurants in London until its closure in 2014.[14]
Rhodes also owned Arcadian Rhodes on the P&O superliner MSArcadia, Rhodes W1 at The Cumberland Hotel in London, and Rhodes Calabash at The Calabash Hotel in Grenada.[10] He was also a contributor to the BBC Good Food magazine.[15]
His first TV appearance was at the age of 27, courtesy of TV chef Glynn Christian on Hot Chefs. This led to the BBC series Rhodes Around Britain in 1994 and Gary's Rhodes' Perfect Christmas in 1998.[16] In 1999, Rhodes presented a BBC TV series Gary Rhodes' New British Classics, reintroducing classic British cuisine, and published a book of the same name.[17][18] For two seasons, in 2000 and 2001, Rhodes hosted the original MasterChef USAonPBS.[19]
Rhodes starred in the television series Rhodes Across India,[20] with apprentices Bushra Akram, Scott Davis and Kalwant Sahota, and, in 2008, Rhodes Across China, which explored Chinese cuisine, with sous chefs Melissa Syers and Teresa Tsang.[21]
Rhodes appeared in a commercial tie-in with Tate & Lyle in the late 1990s, and his recipes endorsed sugar and treacle products accordingly; his name was printed on every Tate & Lyle sugar sachet across the country.[22] Rhodes was associated with a Cooking in Schools campaign with Flora UK and appeared in television adverts for Flora margarine, some of which featured him "driving a van topped with a giant styrofoam crumpet" which were banned.[23]
Rhodes died in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 26 November 2019; he was aged 59.[10] Rock Oyster Media and Goldfinch TV said in a statement to the PA news agency that Rhodes had become unwell, while filming, and died shortly thereafter.[30] It was later confirmed by Rhodes' family that his death was a result of a subdural haematoma, normally associated with a head injury.[31]
^Sven-Erik Bergh, ed. (1993). Bergh's International Annual Digest of Gastronomy '93/94: All About Cookery and Wine. Bergh Publishing Group. p. 105. ISBN978-0-930267-37-7.
^Coren, Giles (20 December 2003). "Rhodes 24". The Times. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
^Wood, Joanna; Walker, Ben (6 November 2003). "Rhodes in the Tower". Caterer Search. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
Michelin star) – Tower 42, London (closed in 2014).
