Chef Albert Roux roasts 'rude' French as he decides to become a British citizen



Charismatic chef labels fellow countrymen 'rude and pedantic'

He travels to France 'as little as possible' and wants to die a 'Britishman'

Moved to UK in 1954, setting up Le Gavroche restaurant in London in 1967

It became the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars

He said his application for a British passport had already been submitted



He is exempt from taking the citizenship test because he is over 65 and has been awarded an OBE

French-born Chef Albert Roux has branded his fellow countrymen 'rude' saying he wants to die a 'Britishman'

One of France’s greatest chefs wants to become a British citizen after delivering a withering verdict of his home country and labelling his fellow countrymen ‘rude and pedantic’.



Albert Roux, 78, has revealed that he has applied for a British passport and insisted he want to ‘die as a Britishman.’



Mr Roux first moved to the UK as an 18-year-old in 1954, before setting up the famed Le Gavroche restaurant in London in 1967. It became the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars.



He explained that he now travels to France ‘as little as possible’.



He explained that his application for a British passport had already been submitted and that he was exempt from taking the UK government’s citizenship test because he was over 65 and has been awarded an OBE. He now expects his application to be approved within a few weeks.



Mr Roux, father of former MasterChef host Michel Roux Jr, told the Daily Mail: ‘England is not a second home for me, it is my first home. I’m an extremely strong royalist. It is only that my birth happened to be in France.



‘My heart is British, very much so. I am waiting for my British passport, I’ve applied and it is a matter of weeks now. I want to remain in this country and I want to die in this country.



‘I came to this country when I was 18, and I always felt I was born on the wrong side of the Channel and that the children should have a British education. The kids are British in their nationality.



‘I go back to France as little as possible. I find the French as a whole very pedantic. They think they know better than anybody. In the restaurant trade most of the time they are constipated.



'The French think they have the best wine, the best food. But the British know about wine and food.



‘They don’t know how to smile and say thank you. Not all of them, but many.



‘They know this very well because the government never fail to tell them to be more friendly. You have 85 million tourists coming to France on a yearly basis. We should be far more hospitable to the people who come and spend money with us. We’re not.



‘The reason I’ve decided to apply now is that I’m not going to live forever. I’m not counting the days, but I’m not going to be here in 20 years. So I want to die as a Britishman and be buried here.’

The son of a charcutier from Burgundy, Mr Roux originally wanted to be a priest, but moved to Britain to work as a private chef in the 1950s.

He and his brother Michel opened Le Gavroche almost 50 years ago, and it became the first restaurant in Britain to win a Michelin star, the first to win two, and the first to win three in 1982.



The restaurant became a favourite Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother. Le Gavroche is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having served the most expensive meal per head when three diners spent more than £13,000 on one meal in 1997.



Roux and his brother Michel opened Le Gavroche almost 50 years ago, and it became the first restaurant in Britain to win a Michelin star, the first to win two, and the first to win three in 1982

Mr Roux went on to train a series of Michelin-starred chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Marcus Wareing.



He now runs a series of restaurants around Britain, including Chez Roux in Muirfield, Scotland, Roux at Parliament Square in London and Chez Roux at The Atholl in Edinburgh.



In a poll of UK chefs carried out by Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine in 2003, Albert and his brother Michel were voted the most influential chefs in the country, while in 2006, he and Michel were jointly given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards.



He is now hosting an event at the Investec Derby Festival in June.



Asked if he felt responsible for spawning the culture of celebrity chefs in Britain, he said: ‘I was not a celebrity chef. I was a chef who was asked to do a programme on television and a chef who was at work every night in his restaurant. And so is my son.



‘Most of the celebrity chefs today, if they weren’t on television, they would have a shock to find the money for the next meal.



‘They can’t cook. They can’t cook. I wouldn’t want them to cook me a meal. I’m not going to name names, absolutely not. Google it. Read Caterer.



'There was another one last week who went into receivership, a one-star Michelin. Closed the restaurant, said he had a leak. A water leak. The water leak was his cash.

