The culinary king

Simon Rogan is one of the world’s best known and most respected chefs. But lockdown has taught him that life in the Lake District is best.

- Emma Mayoh

Simon Rogan is an internationally renowned chef. With restaurants across the globe, including in the Middle East and Far East. One of his latest additions Henrock at Linthwaite House Hotel in Cumbria opened last October, he was set to do pop up dining events at Royal Ascot and in Australia and things were flying at his culinary home, the two Michelin starred L’Enclume in Cartmel. But when lockdown hit back in March, like all the hard-hit hospitality industry, all bets were off.

‘Before we went into lockdown, we were flying,’ says Simon. ‘We were looking forward to a smashing summer with the pop ups and the restaurants were full. My diary was full of international appointments, too.

‘And then the lockdown was announced and it was completely mind-blowing. I was worried about what we have here in Cartmel, that everything we had worked for would be gone in one fell swoop. They were worrying times.’

Fast forward a few months and the impact of lockdown has been quite extraordinary. Since reopening in early July bookings for his flagship, L’Enclume in Cartmel, along with his other Lakes, London – he hasn’t yet reopened Roganic – and Hong Kong businesses have piled in. His popular Simon Rogan at Home, launched in lockdown, continues to gather pace, and business are up. Not just up, in fact, but 30 per cent up. It’s an astonishing turn of fortunes in a time when everything seemed so uncertain.