Richard Corrigan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 February 1964 County Meath, Ireland |
| Education | Dublin Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Chef |
| Spouse | Maria |
Richard Corrigan (born 10 February 1964) is an Irish chef.[1][2][3] He serves as the chef/patron of Corrigan's Bar & Restaurant Mayfair, Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill, Daffodil Mulligan Restaurant & Gibney's Bar in London, Virginia Park Lodge and adjoining pub the Deerpark Inn in Virginia, County Cavan, and most recently The Portrait Restaurant, located on the top floor of the National Portrait Gallery, London.[1][4][5]
Richard Corrigan was born and raised in Ballivor, County Meath.[6][7] He was raised on a small, rural farm of around 25 aches, and credits his upbringing for making him "very unpretentious about good food... it instills respect, because you know the hard graft that goes into producing it".[8]
He studied at Dublin Institute of Technology,[1] but left school at the age of 14 to work as a trainee chef in the Kirwin Hotel in Kylemore, Ireland.[9] At age 17, Corrigan moved to the Netherlands to work at several hotels to gain further experience, including the Hilton in Amsterdam, where he recalls the Head Chef achieving a Michelin Star: "I remember him sending me out in the middle of the night to pick herbs without a torch. We were so frightened of him. When Michelin gave him the star, all the kitchen staff went on strike."[10]
After spending four years in the Netherlands,[11] Richard Corrigan moved to London in 1985 to work with Michel Lorrain, father of Chef Jean-Michel Lorain, at the Le Méridien hotel in Piccadilly.
Following this, Corrigan headed up Stephen Bull's Blandford Street Restaurant, before moving to Mulligan's in Mayfair[12] and taking a stint as Head Chef at future acquisition Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill. He returned to work for Bull in 1994, launching Fulham Road where he gained his first Michelin star. [3]
A collaboration with contract caterer Searcys in 1996 led to projects such as Searcy's Brasserie at the Barbican, the opening of the House restaurant and the English Garden, both in Chelsea, and the prized contract to operate an exclusive restaurant and bar atop The Gherkin in 2004.
In 1997, he opened Lindsay House in Soho, London. Located in a four-storey 1740s townhouse, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 1999 and quickly developed into a London favourite.[13] More accolades followed, with Corrigan winning the Outstanding London Chef award in the 2000 Carlton London Restaurant Awards, and Lindsay House being named one of London's five finest restaurants by Gault Millat in 2005. [14]
In 2005, he purchased Bentley's, where he had previously worked as Head Chef under owner Oscar Owide and carried out extensive renovations, returning the listed building to its former glory and realising the potential he had seen there years before.[15] He went on to open Corrigan's Mayfair in 2008, which received accolades such as being awarded London Restaurant of the Year by the Evening Standard in 2008, earning three AA Rosettes,[16] and being named ‘AA London Restaurant of the Year’ in 2009.[16] It also received a high ranking in the National Restaurant Awards.[17]
On the day he opened Corrigan's Mayfair, he announced the closure of Lindsay House, citing problems with the ageing building and the restaurant's tiny kitchen: "Everyone who came to see that kitchen couldn't believe we could serve 90 covers. Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Steven Doherty - all the chefs said: ‘Corrigan, how on earth are you doing it?'"[18]
Richard Corrigan has been crowned the winner of the Great British Menu three times.[16] Additionally, he won the Great British Waste Menu special in 2010,[19][16] which aired on BBC 1 prime time to an audience of over 7 million viewers and culminated in a dinner at the House of Lords.[citation needed]
In 2014, Corrigan purchased 18th century hunting estate, Virginia Park Lodge, in Virginia, County Cavan, having married his wife, Maria, there 28 years before.[20] In 2019, he opened Daffodil Mulligan, an Irish grill restaurant in Shoreditch, as well as basement bar Gibney's London alongside Tony Gibney of Gibney's Malahide, and John Nugent.
Most recently he has once again collaborated with Searcys, opening The Portrait Restaurant, located on the top floor of the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery, London in July 2023. The Portrait Restaurant has received rave reviews from Tim Hayward in the Financial Times,[21] Giles Coren in The Times[22] and more.
He is well known in Ireland for his outspoken opinions and he is an occasional contributor to RTÉ Radio 1 discussions on Brexit.
In December 2017 he said of the UK, "Never have I seen a country led so badly in my life - by a bunch of monkeys, frankly. I'd like to have them all at a Christmas party and give them the worst hiding they could imagine."[23] In June 2018 he said London is "led by a load of donkeys", and of the UK Cabinet "Harrow, Eton and these private schools where most of these absolute monkeys come out of. I'd love to smack their arses with a big cane."[24]
