Rick Stein
Founder, Co-owner and Chef
In 1975, Rick co-founded The Seafood Restaurant with Jill Stein.
Rick Stein CBE is an English chef, restaurateur, cookery book author and television presenter. He has written over 20 cookery books, an autobiography and made over 30 programmes including 12 cookery series. He has cooked for The Queen and Prince Philip, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and French President, Jacques Chirac.
Rick is best known for a love of fresh, simple seafood and made his name in the 90’s with his earliest books and television series based on his life as chef and owner of The Seafood Restaurant in the fishing port of Padstow – little known at the time as a destination for great food. As he said at the time “nothing is more exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked” – an ethos he has both lived and run his restaurants by.
Rick is also famed for his pairing of food and travel (near and far), with television shows and cookery books to his name including his latest BBC series Rick Stein’s Cornwall, Rick Stein’s Spain, Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey, Long Weekends, The Road to Mexico and his 2019 programme celebrating Secret France.
In 2017, Rick was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours and also won Best Food Personality at the Observer Food Monthly Awards, Special Contribution Award at The Travel Media Awards and Outstanding Contribution to Travel at the National Geographic Traveller Awards.