Steve Drake (chef)

He began his culinary career working in a café making bacon sandwiches.[1] After culinary school he began working under Keith Stanley at The Ritz London Hotel, at the age of 17 in 1990. He was staying in shared accommodation, and met a fellow chef who was working at Nico Ladenis' restaurant. Drake went for an interview and gained a job there, staying for a year.[2]

He moved to work at Pied à Terre under Tom Aikens during the period when Aikens had just taken over from the previous chef. He only stayed for a few months an interviewed for a job at the Oak Room, working for Marco Pierre White. On his first day there, his job was to prep the tomatoes for a crab dish. On the second day a chef on the fish section left, and White placed Drake onto the section, where he stayed for the rest of the time at the restaurant.[2]

After Gordon Ramsay left Aubergine, Drake was brought in as a sous chef under William Drabbel for the reopening of the restaurant. He left the restaurant to go become a head chef at Drake's on the Pond in Abinger Hammer, Surrey.[2] Whilst he was there, Drake won the Roux Scholarship in 2001 and travelled to France to work at L’Auberge De L’Eridan.[3] It was the third time that Drake had reached the final of the scholarship, having done so previously in both 1999 and 2000.[4] In 2003, Drake's on the Pond was awarded a Michelin star.[2]

Drake left the restaurant shortly afterwards to become chef proprietor at Drake's, purchasing the restaurant from Michel and Dorothy Albina.[5] It was awarded a Michelin star in its first year, and three AA Rosettes.[2][6]

Michelin-starred chef Steve Drake left Drake's restaurant in Ripley, Surrey at the end of August 2016 to set up his own venture[7]

In 2017 Drake launched Sorrel a 32 cover restaurant in a red brick building on South Street in Dorking, Surrey [8]