Making History, Breaking Rules, And Setting Precedents Are De Rigueur Two-Michelin-Stared Raymond Blanc

French-born, British-based chef Raymond Blanc has held two Michelin stars for more than half his life. Blanc’s restaurant in his 15th-century Oxford-based Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond hotel, has held onto its coveted multi-star status for a staggering 37 years. Making history, breaking rules, setting precedents are all de rigueur for Blanc.

His influences range from French to English to Asian, all executed with seasonal and organic produce, much of which is grown on the estate grounds. Farm-to-table is much in vogue now but when Blanc first began pruning and cultivating his two-acre garden— with over 90 types of vegetables; 70 varieties of herbs; and rows of apple, pear and quince tree—it was a complete anomaly. Blanc plucked the best of what was available, tweaked his menus obsessively, and only served what was growing in front of his eyes before every gastropub and pizzeria did the same.

It’s worth remember as well that Blanc is both self-taught and self-made. Raised in the Franche-Comté, amidst the undulating hills and craggy mountains between Burgundy and the Swiss border, Blanc learned his craft cooking in a remote hotel owned by his wife’s parents.

Next, Blanc spent seven years as the head chef in the scant Les Quat’ Saisons—a jewel of a restaurant smooched into the centre of a shopping mall near Oxford. And when Blanc first established Le Manoir in 1984, the acclaim came as quickly as the opening. The 1984 Michelin Guide to Britain granted it two stars almost instantaneously—at the time the only country hotel in the U.K. to be met with such acclaim.

Egon Ronay, the Hungarian-born food critic who published a series of British guidebooks considered the gold standard, stopped for lunch the day after the opening and said, ”As sparingly as I use the word ‘sensational,’ that is the only apt adjective for the whole experience.” Similarly, Nico Ladenis, the proprietor of Chez Nico in London, another of Michelin’s few British two-star choices, said, “This food tastes.”

Intimate with 32-rooms and suites, each is an original when it comes to design. Taking inspiration from Blanc’s travel, some rooms are loud and brash, another white from floor-to-ceiling, and, as the name suggests the Garden Suites all have their own private green spaces.