Simon Rogan’s father worked at a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, coming home every evening with a box of the day’s the best produce. A fussy eater at the time, Simon Rogan was suspicious of the unfamiliar exotics he brought back, such as star and kiwi fruits, but credits this early exposure with sparking his life-long interest in ingredients and seasonal produce.

Already a keen home cook, aged fourteen he took a weekend job in a Greek restaurant in his hometown of Southampton, but at that point the financial freedom it afforded was the motivator. Football was more on his mind, with trials for Chelsea and a training contract with Fulham in the offing; but realising this was a pipe dream, he focused on catering college instead, which he attended on day release while he continued to work. He told GQ of his time there: ‘I was surrounded by aspiring chefs who were far more experienced than me and were working in the great country-house hotels of the New Forest … I couldn’t stand for that! So that fired up my competitive spirit and I vowed to become the best chef I could.’

In an effort to build on the classical skills he had begun to develop at college, Simon started work as an apprentice at Rhinefield House Hotel in Hampshire, aged seventeen, under a chef who had worked at The Savoy. He told The Guardian: ‘He gave me a great classical grounding. Now I was earning no money at all, but that no longer mattered: I was head over heels in love with it. I wanted to get to the top.’ It was at this luxury hotel that a love of foraging was born and Simon would spend his time off exploring the surrounding forests, fields and hedgerows for wild mushrooms and herbs.

In 1988 he took a position as a pastry chef at Geddes Restaurant in Southampton, under chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. Following him around the country for the next eight years, this was a hugely formative time for Simon and he says Jean-Christophe opened his eyes to the possibilities for travel and professional development that dedicated cheffing could offer. He told The Guardian: ‘He’s godfather to my children… he was more than a boss, he was more like a brother. And he has been one of the biggest influences on my career.’ This period included stints working at The Maltster’s Arms in Devon (then owned by Keith Floyd), Gordleton Mill in the New Forest, Hampshire, and Nansidwell House Hotel in Falmouth, as well as stage placements under Marco Pierre White and John Burton-Race. In the 1990s he worked for two years at the three-star Lucas Carton in Paris, under Alain Senderens – an experience he describes as ‘incredible’, followed by his first head chef role at Adlington Place in Croydon.

In 2002, Simon and his partner Penny Tapsell opened their own restaurant – L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria. Building on the enthusiasm for ingredients he learnt from his father and his early career experiences of sourcing wild food, Simon’s dishes showcase the tastes, textures and fragrances of the surrounding natural world. Influenced by French chef Marc Veyrat, whose avant-garde, natural cuisine and creative use of Alpine herbs and flowers has long been admired by Simon, his plates centre on ingredients of the highest possible quality, both farmed and foraged. Awarding Simon a perfect 10/10, the 2015 Good Food Guide describes his constantly changing, twenty-one-course tasting extravaganza as ‘miracles of nature’. His first Michelin star was awarded in 2005, with the second arriving in 2013. He also currently holds the maximum five AA rosettes.