Scan through a list of the UK's two Michelin-starred restaurants and you’ll see, for the most part, a host of pedigree chefs running institutional establishments. Raymond Blanc and Gary Jones at Le Manoir, Simon Rogan at L’Enclume, Sat Bains at Restaurant Sat Bains, Claude Bosi at Bibendum – career chefs who have spent their lives in kitchens before climbing to the top of the pyramid.
In that context, there is a conspicuous outlier on the list. James Close, head chef and owner of the two-Michelin-starred Raby Hunt, didn’t start cooking until his late twenties. He didn’t start washing dishes in a local pub at sixteen years old, nor did he work his way up the brigade ranks; in fact, The Raby Hunt is the only kitchen he has ever known.
Instead, James had aspirations of travelling the world as a professional golfer. He spent his days at the range or on the course, obsessing over his swing, practicing, studying. ‘All I wanted to do was be a golf pro,’ he says. ‘I used to play every day, seven days a week. My house was full of golf books.’ He was in his mid-twenties when he finally called time on the dream. ‘I could have been a decent teacher but I wanted to be the best golfer in Europe,’ he says. ‘As soon as that dream died I had to walk away from it.’
Shortly after, James and his family bought a little-known old boozer in the quiet village of Summerhouse, near Darlington, with an eye towards doing it up and running it themselves. James had always loved food and he dived into the kitchen with his mother, redirecting his perfectionism into cooking. In the ten years since that fateful day, The Raby Hunt has won two Michelin stars and a whole host of accolades since then, and James has become one of the UK's most renowned chefs.
