Shaun Dickens is a chef who owns the Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse restaurant in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, Oxfordshire, England.

Career

Dickens trained at

Westminster Kingsway College Westminster Kingsway College is a large college for further education in central London with centres in King's Cross in Camden, together with Victoria and Soho centres in Westminster. Founded in 2000 and having origins dating back to 1910, the ...

in London, during which time he was one of six students to appear on ITV's Yes Chef! His first position was at

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Fo ...

's two

Michelin star 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 stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons before he moved to New York to work for

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Founda ...

at the three Michelin star

Per Se Per se may refer to: * ''per se'', a Latin phrase meaning "by itself" or "in itself". * Illegal ''per se'', the legal usage in criminal and antitrust law * Negligence ''per se'', legal use in tort law *Per Se (restaurant) Per Se is a New Ameri ...

. He returned to England two years later and worked at

L'Ortolan L'Ortolan is a gourmet restaurant in the village of Shinfield, south of the centre of Reading, Berkshire, England. It is located in the village's old vicarage building, which is a Grade-II listed building The restaurant has one star in the Mic ...

in Reading, which also holds a Michelin star. During this time he came third in the Restaurant Association's Young Chef Young Waiter 2009 competition, and the following year he came third in the Craft Guild of Chefs' Young National Chef of the Year competition. In 2012, Dickens won

The Caterer ''The Caterer'' is a weekly UK business magazine for hospitality professionals. It covers all areas of the hospitality industry (including restaurants, hotels, foodservice, pubs and bars) providing news, analysis and features about senior industry ...

's Acorn Award, which recognises 30 people under the age of 30 who have made a significant impression in their field. In April 2013, Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse was officially opened by Blanc. Shortly afterwards, it was named as one of that year's top 100 restaurants in the country by OpenTable/

Toptable Toptable (styled toptable) was an online restaurant booker covering the UK as well as major cities in Europe and New York City established in 2000 and bought by OpenTable in 2010. History Toptable was founded in 2000 by entrepreneur Karen Hant ...

. The restaurant was forced to close in February 2014 due to flooding from the nearby River Thames but reopened again in April. For these three months, Dickens operated from a pop-up restaurant on board the New Orleans, a paddle-steamer owned by neighbouring tour operator Hobbs of Henley. In May 2014, Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse won the Best of Britain Award for the best restaurant outside London in that year's

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

Magazine Restaurant awards. Six months later, Dickens' venture was named both best gastronomic restaurant in the county and best restaurant at the Oxfordshire Restaurant Awards. Dickens has also featured in articles in the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

, The Daily Express and

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

References

British chefs 1984 births Living people {{chef-bio-stub