I think every dedicated foodie has their food hero – whether it’s a Michelin-starred chef, a local artisan producer or your own mum – it’s someone whose skills you look up to and has talents that you admire. One of my personal food heroes is Michel Roux Jr, a man who has followed in his father’s elite footsteps and now runs a two Michelin star restaurant and has had numerous television appearances. When I was invited to Roux at Parliament Square for the launch of Michel’s new YouTube series, The Craftsmen’s Dinner, I was excited to find out more about his new plans but I was even more excited to get a selfie with Michel.
Michel Roux Jr has partnered up with The Balvenie Whiskey to unveil the true meaning of craftsmanship by finding out more about the skills of six talented craftsman. His six-part short film series, The Craftsmen’s Dinner, follows Michel in this quest and culminates with the chef creating the ultimate dinner using contributions from each of the people that the meets. At the launch of the series we were lucky enough to meet the stars of the show, not only my food hero Michel Roux Jr, but a host of other heroes too. 
Will Ferraby, one of the only knife makers left in Britain, told us about the time and skill that goes into creating his knives which are all made completely by hand and are sharp enough to cut a tomato in two when dropped from a height.
Through the afternoon we were introduced to Grierson Organic and their grass-fed beef. 
Which we able to sample in the form of canapés prepared by Michel. 
We tried still wines from Ridgeview Wines, which we were encouraged to mix together to create our own blend – mine tasted horrible but I’d already learnt that I lacked wine blending skills on my trip to Champagne…I’m very good at drinking it though…
We also met the rather quirky character, Ole Hansen, a salmon smoker who actually sings to his salmon whilst playing the piano as he believes it enhances the taste.
And this may in fact be true as Michel himself thought Hansen & Lyderson salmon was the best he ever tried…
And we got to try it too.
Through out the presentation we admired the tableware, which was also made by a fellow craftsman, Naine Woodrow from North Street Potters. I was fascinated to hear about Naine’s training in Japan and how she learnt to model the perfect pots.
Over the course of the afternoon were given different aged whiskies from The Balvenie as pairings with our canapés, each with a very unique taste and fragrance. At the end we met The Balvenie’s own cooper who told us more about how the whisky is crafted.
And my friend and fellow blogger, Honey, got a taster straight from the barrel. After the demonstrations we watched the first episode of the series, giving us a chance to view the excellent cinematography and presentation by Michel. When it was all finished there was no way I was leaving without my photo with the renowned chef…
I was so excited to meet my personal food hero, but I was even more excited to send the picture to my mum, a fellow Masterchef fan!
To see Michel’s fantastic new series for yourself go to http://www.youtube.com/TheCraftsmensDinner. The first episode has just aired and there will be a new one every fortnight.
Who’s your food hero?
