Michel Roux, French chef who changed face of UK dining, dead at 79

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Michel Roux, the famed French-born chef credited with revolutionising the British culinary scene after relocating to London in the 1960s, has died aged 79. 

In a statement, his family decribed Roux as "an extraordinary man" who would "leave the world reeling in his wake." He had been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 

Roux, who first became an apprentice pastry chef at the age of 14 in Paris, moved to London with his brother, Albert, in 1967 and opened Le Gavroche in Sloane Street. 

In 1982 it became the first restaurant in Britain to receive three Michelin stars, which it holds to this day. The pair's second restaurant, the Waterside Inn in Bray, received three Michelin stars in 1985. 

As a young man, Roux joined the household of Cécile de Rothschild and eventually became her personal chef. He described the period of his life as a “life-changing experience.”

After moving to London and finding sucess with Le Gavroche, the Roux brothers launched the Roux Scholarship, which provided for young British chefs to study in France. 

As well as his culimary sucess, Roux is the author of 12 books and appeared regularly on television. His son, Alain, is also a world-famous chef and restauranteur. 

Tributes poured in from across the culinary world on Wednesday.