Words by Verena Neumayr-Howes
Female chefs have been making great strides in the UK in recent years, with powerhouses such as Hélène Darroze, Angela Hartnett, Clare Smyth, Anne-Sophie Pic, and Margot Henderson paving the way for the next generation. This is no mean feat, considering that a 2023 survey found that of the UK’s Michelin-starred restaurants, only 8% were led by women.
Hailing from varied backgrounds, the country’s most impressive female chefs all cook at the top of their game, and are unafraid to challenge the status quo. Keep reading to find out who they are, and what sets them apart.
Adejoké Bakare
Chishuru (London)
Nigerian-born, self-taught chef Adejoké Bakare became a pioneer of London’s current crop of West African restaurants when she launched her Brixton pop-up in 2020. Moving to a permanent space in Fitzrovia in 2023, she became the first Black woman in the UK – and only third in the world – to be awarded a Michelin star at Chishuru. Her set menus are a culinary love letter to her hometown, with dishes such as barbecued turbot fillet with palm nut cream and green crab sauce.
Ash Valenzuela-Heeger
Riverine Rabbit (Birmingham)
The winner of the Michelin Young Chef Award 2025 started her restaurant in Cape Town before moving to the UK to build a life with her wife, and co-owner, Erin. Starting with pop-ups, they were ‘generating buzz in Brummie circles for some time’ according to the Michelin Guide, before finding a permanent home in Stirchley – a tiny space for 12 diners. At Riverine Rabbit the menu is big on flavour and draws on influences from Valenzuela-Heeger’s native South Africa to across Asia, and was awarded a Bib Gourmand in February 2025.
Nieves Barragán
Sabor (London)
The Spanish chef is widely credited with having turned British perceptions of what her homeland’s food entails on its head. She followed her award-winning hit Barrafina with the Michelin-starred Sabor on Heddon Street – a buzzing open-plan restaurant reminiscent of an authentic tapas bar. The walk-in only counter seating, Andalusian-tiled kitchen, and small sharing plates will make you feel as if you’re sitting among locals in Seville or Córdoba.
Skye Gyngell
Spring (London) & Heckfield Place (Hampshire)
Australian-born chef Skye Gyngell’s first solo restaurant, Spring at Somerset House, has consistently broken new ground, from its mostly female kitchen and no-waste set menu to becoming the first restaurant in London to do away with single-use plastic. She set the sustainability bar equally high at Heckfield Place, where her Green Michelin-starred Marle and rustic Hearth exemplify pared-back cooking with produce from the estate’s biodynamic farm and organic gardens.
Chantelle Nicholson
Apricity (London) & The Cordia Collective (West Sussex)
Originally from New Zealand, Nicholson is one of the leading female culinary voices in the UK. An advocate for seasonality and sustainability, the down-to-earth chef champions veg-forward cooking and regenerative farming methods at her Green Michelin-starred restaurant Apricity. Up next is The Cordia Collective in West Sussex, where she’s busy turning the former stables of Borde Hill estate into a glasshouse restaurant, cafe, wine bar, and workshop space.
Asma Khan
Darjeeling Express (London)
The first UK chef to appear on Netflix’s Chef’s Table in 2018, Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express started life as a sell-out supper club in her Kensington home before turning into a restaurant at the forefront of London’s Indian dining scene. Darjeeling Express – the all-female kitchen is made up of non-professional chefs cooking home-style food that pays homage to Khan’s royal Mughlai ancestry, as well as her childhood growing up in Kolkata.
Ravinder Bhogal
Jikoni (London)
Born in Kenya to Indian parents, Ravinder Bhogal’s life as a food writer and chef has been shaped by her mixed heritage and fascination with exploring the culinary exploits of the UK’s diverse migrant communities. Her self-proclaimed ‘no borders kitchen’ Jikoni in Marylebone serves immensely satisfying dishes, such as crispy aubergine with Sichuan caramel and sticky garlic rice, and her signature prawn toast Scotch egg with banana ketchup and pickled cucumbers.
Lorna McNee
Cail Bruich (Scotland)
A former protégé of the late Andrew Fairlie, Lorna McNee won Great British Menu’s ‘Champion of Champions’ in 2019, and took up her first head chef role at Cail Bruich the following year. She’s the only female chef in Scotland to currently hold a Michelin star, awarded within only five months of joining Cail Bruich. At the forefront of the country’s fine-dining scene, her refined style of cooking is all about celebrating the region’s natural larder through carefully constructed dishes.
Abby Lee
Mambow (London)
Originally focused on Italian cuisine, Abby Lee’s career took a turn when she became re-acquainted with the food of her childhood during a stint back home in Malaysia. The lightbulb moment resulted in her opening Mambow in Peckham, which has since moved to a larger space in Clapton. Her modern Malaysian dishes that go beyond laksa and roti to focus more on Nyonya (a combination of Malay and Chinese cooking) have gone down a storm with both diners and critics.
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