April Bloomfield

April Bloomfield (born 1974), is a British chef best known for holding a Michelin star at two restaurants, The Spotted Pig and The Breslin. She had previously worked at a number of restaurants in the United Kingdom, including The River Café and Bibendum.

Chef Bloomfield is also noted for achieving the highest score of any single challenger in Iron Chef America history, accomplishing the feat during her 56–53 victory over Michael Symon in 2008.

Biography

Bloomfield was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, in 1974. Her father was an engineer, while her mother worked from home for Halcyon Days Ltd, painting bomboniere. She originally wanted to become a police officer, but changed her mind when she discovered that she had missed out on the police cadet scheme. She decided to attend catering college alongside her sister and realised that it was a career she wanted.^[1]

Following college, she began working at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham, before moving to London to work first at Kensington Place and then at Bibendum. She moved to work in Northern Ireland but returned to London and after working at a couple of further restaurants, she started working at The River Café after achieving a position there through a friend.^[1]

She credits her time at the River Café with Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers as being the time which really taught her to cook. Whilst there, she was scouted by American chef Mario Batali following Jamie Oliver's suggestion, to open a bistro-style restaurant in New York City.^[2] She was flown out to New York, where she was offered the job after a ten-hour interview by Batali which saw the pair eat at a variety of the restaurants in the city.^[1] After spending the summer working at Chez Panisse to familiarise herself with American ingredients,^[1] she moved to New York in the autumn of 2003, and opened the gastropub The Spotted Pig.^[2] The restaurant went on to win a Michelin star in 2005, the first time a specific list had been produced for New York City.^[3] She opened a second restaurant, located in the Ace Hotel New York, called The Breslin which later also won a star. She also opened an oyster bar in the hotel called The John Dory.^[1]

As of the 2012 Michelin Guide, she is one of ten female chefs in the United States to hold a Michelin star.^[4]

Published works

• Bloomfield, April (2012). A Girl and Her Pig. New York: Ecco. ISBN 978-0062003966. 

References