Glynn Purnell

Purnell's restaurant in Birmingham City centre

Glynn Purnell (born 1975) is an English chef and restaurateur. Described by the Birmingham Post as "undoubtably the finest chef to hail from Chelmsley Wood",[1] he is the proprietor and Head Chef at Purnell's restaurant in Birmingham, England, which was awarded a Michelin star in January 2009.[2]

Life and career

Purnell was born in Chelmsley Wood, a large council estate in Solihull. When he was young he would cook for his younger brother and sister, feeding them beans on toast with curry powder and chopped onions.[3] His first experience working in a kitchen was when he did work experience at the Metropole Hotel at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre at the age of 14, returning for a six-year apprenticeship when he left school.[3]

Purnell's career in fine dining started in 1996 when he joined Andreas Antona at Simpsons restaurant – then based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire – as chef de partie.[4] While at Simpsons he worked on placements with other notable chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Alistair Little and Gary Rhodes,[2] and at restaurants in Lyon, Montpellier and the Basque Country.[3] In 2002 he worked for six months as sous chef at Claude Bosi's Hibiscus restaurant in Ludlow, Shropshire.[2]

In 2003 Purnell was appointed to his first Head Chef role at Jessica's in Edgbaston, Birmingham, which was awarded the first Michelin star given to a Birmingham restaurant in 2005, and was also named English "Restaurant of the Year" by the AA the same year.[3]

Purnell left Jessica's in 2007 and opened his own restaurant, Purnell's in Cornwall Street, in Birmingham's city centre, which was also awarded a Michelin star in January 2009, and itself won the AA Restaurant of the Year award in September of the same year.[5] The restaurant also won the Square Meal Best Restaurant of the Year Award in 2012.[6]

In August 2010 it was announced that Purnell would be opening a second restaurant – The Asquith, an "ambitious, neighbourhood restaurant" – in the premises of the former Jessica's in Edgbaston.[7] On 3 April 2011, The Asquith closed its doors due to a dispute with the buildings landlord [8] before reopening in Birmingham city centre.[9]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Power 50 Profiles – No.14 Glynn Purnell", Birmingham Post, 2009-06-30, retrieved 25 August 2010
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chefs – Glynn Purnell, BBC Food, retrieved 25 August 2010
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Harmer, Janet (18 May 2009), Glynn Purnell, Caterer Search, retrieved 25 August 2010
  4. ↑ Binns, Richard (2004), D’Artagnan and The Three Musketeers (a Midlands culinary epic!), retrieved 25 August 2010
  5. ↑ McComb, Richard (2009-09-29), "Birmingham restaurant Purnell's named England's No.1 by the AA", Birmingham Post, retrieved 26 August 2010
  6. ↑ Evans, Nicky. "Purnell’s wins BMW Square Meal Best UK Restaurant award 2012". Square Meal. Monomax Ltd. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  7. ↑ McComb, Richard (2010-08-05), "Glynn Purnell and Jamie Oliver to open new restaurants in Birmingham", Birmingham Post, retrieved 27 August 2010
  8. ↑ http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2011/04/07/top-birmingham-chef-glynn-purnell-closes-the-asquith-after-landlord-dispute-65233-28478221/
  9. ↑ http://theasquith.com/