Ravinder Bhogal is a food writer, restaurateur, British chef, journalist and stylist. She opened her first restaurant ''Jikoni'' in Marylebone, London in September 2016. Bhogal's work and food spans flavours and culinary traditions from the Far East, India & South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Britain and she celebrates the idea of immigrant cuisine. Ravinder has written several cookbooks, and writes a regular monthly column for the FT Weekend and Guardian Feast. Bhogal is contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar, and regularly writes for The Observer Magazine, Guardian and Vogue online.

Early life

Born in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

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, Bhogal grew up in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Career

Books

Bhogal has authored three books. Her debut book ''Cook in Boots'' won the

Gourmand World Cookbook Award A gourmand is a person who takes great pleasure and interest in consuming good food and drink. ''Gourmand'' originally referred to a person who was "a glutton for food and drink", a person who eats and drinks excessively; this usage is now rare. ...

for the UK's Best First Cookbook and was awarded the first runners-up prize of the World's Best First Cookbook at the Paris Cookbook Fair in February 2010. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards feature around 26,000 books from 136 countries. ''Cook in Boots'' was released in 2009 by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen, (Bloomsbury July 2020) won the 2021 IACP Cookbook Award, was shortlisted for the André Simon Award and a Fortnum & Mason Award for Best Cookbook. Her latest, ''Comfort & Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen'' (Bloomsbury) was released on 25 May 2023.

Television appearances

Bhogal made her first TV appearance when she won a competition in search of the new

Fanny Cradock Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television chef and writer. She frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with h ...

, judged by

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...

and Angela Hartnett on series 3 of '' The F Word'' in 2007. Ravinder travelled the world to investigate the journeys of different foods and farming practices in Channel 4's "Food: What's in your Basket" with co-host Jay Rayner and has also hosted ''Ravinder's Kitchen'', a culinary TV series that premiered in October 2013 on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an As ...

Awards and achievements

Bhogal has twice been included in the Evening Standard Progress 1000 list as one of London's leading influencers of progress and diversity in the capital. Ravinder won the Asian Women of Achievement Award in Association with

RBS RBS may refer to: Organisations Banking * The Royal Bank of Scotland, a retail banking subsidiary of NatWest Group ** RBS International, the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group Education * Regent's Business School * Rotterdam Business School ...

in Media in 2013 a

for Best First Cookbook, and the 2021

IACP Cookbook Award The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is a United States-based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage. History The organizati ...

for Chefs and Restaurants. Her debut restaurant, Jikoni, was ranked in the top 100 UK Restaurants by the National Restaurant Awards and achieved a place in the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

in the same year. Jikoni was more recently ranked No19 by

Squaremeal SquareMeal is a restaurant review and booking website and smartphone app, with reviews of 5,000 London and UK restaurants and bars. The site publishes a yearly restaurant and bar guide and runs the BMW Restaurant of the Year Awards. The 2014 w ...

in London’s Top 100 Restaurants 2022, and in

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

’s Top 100 in 2023. In 2021 Jikoni was the first independent restaurant in the UK to be certified Carbon Neutral

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhogal, Ravinder Living people British television chefs British cookbook writers Year of birth missing (living people) Women cookbook writers British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom British people of Indo-Kenyan descent