Sat Bains awarded fourth honorary degree

Two-Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains has received his fourth Honorary Degree, and his second at the University of Nottingham.

 

The Nottingham-based chef is now a Doctor of Laws. He has previously received an Honorary Doctorate of Professional Practice from the University of Derby Buxton in 2010; Master of Arts from the University of Nottingham in 2012; and Doctor of Arts from Nottingham Trent University in 2015.

 

He is famed for championing local suppliers and selected artisan producers and placing the East Midlands on the culinary map.

 

Bains is chef-proprietor of the five-AA-Rosette Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in Nottingham, which won the city’s first Michelin star in 2003. The accommodation has a five-star rating from the AA.

 

He said: "Chefs from my era aren’t very academic. I remember Marco Pierre White saying that it was a cop-out industry and unless you have a really high education, you end up doing manual labour.

 

"The industry has developed so much over the past 20-30 years. It's an amazing industry which is now recognised as a culinary art. It shows that a chef from working a working class background can achieve anything â€" it’s all about drive, passion and desire. It’s still all there after 30 years in the kitchen and when you have your own business like Amanda and I have it’s nice to see there’s something to gain from all the effort and work we put in.

 

"I do absolutely accept it on behalf of the whole team - past and present - because they are what’s helped us get to where we are. The team are part of us and have helped us to move on here. Amanda and I are very proud."

 

Bains was born in Normanton, Derby, where he completed his City & Guilds qualification. In 1996, he was chef de partie with the team that opened Raymond Blanc’s first Le Petit Blanc brasserie, in Oxford.

 

His career also involves roles at London’s Michelin-starred L’Escargot restaurant, the Martins Arms in Colston Bassett and Derby’s Ashbourne Gallery.

 

In 1999, Bains won the prestigious Roux Scholarship competition on his first attempt. Bains’s success in the scholarship won him the chance to work at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier, France, and resulted in the invitation to become head chef at Nottingham’s Hotel des Clos.

 

Bains opened Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in 2002, winning a Michelin star the following year. He achieved the AA’s top accolade of five rosettes in 2009. In 2011 he was awarded a second Michelin star.

 

In 2015 he won the Chef Award at the Cateys. In the same year, he won the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Special Award.

 

Sat Bains to receive honorary doctorate >>

 

Sat Bains to receive an honorary degree from the University of Nottingham >>

 

Caterer and Hotelkeeper 100: Sat Bains, Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms >>

 

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