Emily Roux on winning a Michelin star

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In February, the team at Caractère received the news they’d been hoping for – the award of a Michelin star. For the founders of this popular Notting Hill restaurant, chefs Emily Roux and her husband Diego Ferrari, it has been hard won.

We previously interviewed Emily and Diego back in 2019 not long after they’d opened the year before – they said that a Michelin star would be nice if it happened but it wasn’t what drove them. But after the tough times of the pandemic and Brexit, it is a particularly sweet reward.

“We’ve been through a lot in the past six and a half years. So hopefully, this will be a much brighter year. It’s certainly had a great start,” says Emily.

When the team heard the news, they were overjoyed, and there were lots of tears. Many have been at Caractère for the last two to three years. “They have been on this journey with us. Last year, we were quite sad and disappointed to not receive an invitation to the awards. But the whole team stuck together and said, we’ll try for next year. It was very much a group effort.”

To win a Michelin star obviously brings huge respect in the industry but it is also good for business. “Hopefully, it means more stabilised covers throughout the year. Notting Hill quietens down in July and August, and we also have to close during Notting Hill Carnival, so it’s always a bit of a challenge to fill the restaurant midweek during those summer months. Hopefully this will put us in front of a larger international audience that come here for the holidays.”

Emily reflects back on how difficult it has been to get the restaurant to where it is. “When Covid hit, we were two new young business owners. It was a complete unknown what the pandemic would mean. But it was the same for everyone. I’d be talking to my father (Michel Roux Jr) and we were all like, ‘what do we do?’

Diego and Emily were also about to become parents. “My first child was going to be born in the middle of Covid. So I was navigating becoming a mum for the first time as well as owning a business that’s shut but still having to pay out a lot of money for things like utility bills. Furlough helped for staff but we topped that up.

“Then with Brexit, we faced staffing issues. We’d had people who’d been with us since the beginning and Brexit felt like a slap in the face as most of them were from Europe or around Europe. They didn’t see a future in the UK anymore, which I think is incredibly sad. We basically had to change the whole team at that point.”

But the restaurant made it through to the other side and they’re now looking at what’s next. Emily smiles: “Well, Diego and I are both really ambitious. So although we are extremely happy with this one star, I don’t think we would just say, ‘okay, great, we’ve achieved what we wanted. Let’s play it safe now.’ That’s not really like us. So we’ll probably aim for two stars and that may take one year, it might take 15 years. It probably means more investment and changing a few things inside the restaurant. So that’ll take time, but we can be patient.”

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As an ambassador for our Food and Culture Awards this year, Emily is keen to help shine a light on local businesses. “It’s really hard for hospitality. Small business owners are finding it incredibly difficult, as we are, and the government isn’t really helping us as much as it could and should.”

“I think whenever we can, we should shout about our favourite local places, whether it’s a pizza place, a brunch spot, or a pub.” Some of her favourite spots include Home SW15 and Napoli on the Road.

Emily and Diego have lived in Putney for several years, and, with their two boys, love all the local parks on their doorstep. So, as a family of chefs, who cooks at home? “It really depends on what we’re eating. If we have something Italian-ish, it’ll be Diego. But then if there’s a classic stew or an Asian dish, I tend to take over.”

They both juggle their time in the restaurant with family life. Emily says they are lucky to have their grandparents close-by in Clapham to help. When we interviewed Michel last year, he was just about to close Le Gavroche for good and hoped it would free up more time to spend with his grandchildren.

The restaurant had been in the Roux family since 1967. Emily and Diego decided not to take up the reins. “I didn’t think it would be the right fit. I didn’t think the customers would have appreciated me jumping in, potentially changing some of the dishes or the dining room. And it would never have been my own. I wouldn’t have been able to put my stamp on Le Gavroche because it was such an iconic restaurant.” The chef has certainly been able to do that at Caractère.

The menu is divided into personality traits such as Curious, Robust and Greedy. Celeriac “cacio e pepe” has been on the menu since the start but Emily says their dishes have evolved, and they have really worked on the finer details. Sustainability is a big part of their ethos. One area they focus on is to use as much of an ingredient as possible – a red prawn, for example, is used three ways with its flesh served as a tartare, the head is fried and the carcass dried to make a prawn cracker.

“Obviously we don’t have a garden where we can grow our own stuff – that would be a dream. And we can’t go fishing locally. But we try our best at the restaurant to be mindful of the planet. We’ve got two young kids who are fans of recycling, and children are now taught that at school, which is fantastic. If this younger generation can be mindful at the age of four or five, then hopefully there’ll be a generation of adults that will really think about how they eat and what they discard.”

Finally, I ask Emily about the most invaluable piece of advice she has been given. “I think, just keep your head down, focus, work hard and your time will come. If you stick to something, it will pay off.” With Caractère’s recent Michelin success, Emily embodies that advice, proving that perseverance truly leads to success.