Phil Howard

Phil Howard is one of the most respected and accomplished chefs in the country. His acclaimed restaurant, The Square, celebrates its twenty-first anniversary in December 2012 and has held two Michelin Stars since 1998. Phil is co-owner of The Ledbury, which also has two Michelin Stars, and he was recently one of the winning finalists on the BBC’s Great British Menu.

Phil got into cooking at University, where he studied micro-biology. After graduating in 1988 he took a year out and went travelling, working in a few restaurants in Australia. In 1989 he returned home and decided to follow his passion for cooking. He picked up copies of the Which? Good Food Guide and Michelin and applied to what he considered were the top ten operators.

He quickly got a position working at the Rouxs’ contract catering arm at Kleinwort Benson in the city, where he stayed for a year before going to dinner at Marco Pierre White’s “Harveys”, and was inspired to work for him. Phil worked for Marco for nine months before leaving to work for Simon Hopkinson at Bibendum in South Kensington. During that time he redeveloped a rapport with Marco and the opportunity arose out of the association with Marco and Nigel Platts-Martin to open The Square in 1991.

Phil opened The Ledbury, Notting Hill, nearly 8 years ago with Brett Graham, the chef and now partner. Phil also opened a new venture called Kitchen W8 in Kensington, with Rebecca Mascarenhas.