Nico Ladenis

Nico Ladenis (22 April 1934 – 10 September 2023) was a British self-taught chef who was the first to gain three Michelin Stars.

After gaining a degree in Economics at Hull, he worked at The Sunday Times, where he met his wife Dinah-Jane. They have two daughters, Natasha Robinson, born in 1964 and Isabella Wallace, born in 1966 and one granddaughter, Lily-Rose Wallace, born in 1999.

Best known for his fiery temper and his mantra "the customer is not always right", he taught a generation of British chefs who went on to run their own businesses, win Michelin stars and become household names.

Chez Nico, a truly family-run restaurant was for many years, the highest-rated restaurant in the UK. It had 3 Michelin Stars, ten out of ten in the Good Food Guide and 5 AA Rosettes.

Ladenis wrote two semi-autobiographical books, My Gastronomy and Nico.

His mottos were "Precision, Restraint, Simplicity" and "Consistency, Consistency, Consistency".

In 1999, he handed back his stars due in part to prostate cancer and because of his disillusionment with the London restaurant scene. He retired to the South of France in 2000 and returned to England in 2011.