'True titan' chef and restaurant owner Albert Roux dead aged 85

The chef and restaurant owner Albert Roux, the founder of the UK's first Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche, died on Monday after a long illness, his family has announced.

Gordon Ramsay, 54, was among several stars to take part, including Marcus Wareing and Marco Pierre White, who studied at Roux's Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Following his military service in Algeria, Roux was working as a sous chef in Briton's embassy in Paris, where he spent two years before moving to Britain.

Le Gavroche, which first brought gourmet Parisian cuisine to the capital in 1967, was the first restaurant in Britain to receive a Michelin - starred menu - and the first restaurant to break three records, the ultimate haute cuisine honour in 1982.

A spokesperson for the Michelin Guide said on Twitter:'Albert Roux OBE, along with his late brother Michel, was a father of the UK restaurant industry and his legacy will live on through the many chefs who passed through his kitchen.

Food critic Jay Rayner praised Roux on Twitter, writing: 'Albert Roux was an extraordinary man, who left a massive mark on the food story of his adopted country. The roll call of chefs who went through the kitchens of Le Gavroche alone, is a significant slab of a part of modern UK restaurant culture. RIP.' s kitchens is an important part of British modern food culture. RIP.'