Sat Bains

It was the appeal of studying in a class full of girls that convinced Sat Bains to take up a catering course. Born in 1971 and raised in Derby, cooking was never much of an interest during his childhood, although his mother was a keen home cook and always prepared homely vegetarian Sikh dishes. It wasn’t until he passed his catering course and started working in restaurants that Sat realised he wanted to be a chef.

After being inspired by Nottingham chef Mick ‘Murphy’ Walton and reading Marco Pierre White’s White Heat, Sat set out to become the best chef he could be. He moved to Oxford to help open Raymond Blanc’s Le Petit Blanc and worked in London’s L’Escargot for a few months, before returning to the Midlands to work in Nottingham. It was during this time that he entered himself into the Roux Scholarship and, despite being a bit of an underdog, took home the trophy in 1999. This allowed him to complete a stage at Le Jardin des Sens, a restaurant in the south of France with three Michelin stars.

Sat returned to Nottingham with a whole new understanding of cooking and was appointed head chef of the Hotel des Clos, just outside the city centre. In 2002, he was made partner and the name changed to Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms. A year later it won a Michelin star – the first starred restaurant in Nottingham.

The next few years saw Sat’s profile skyrocket, with critics praising his iconic menus as some of the best in the UK. In 2011 Restaurant Sat Bains received a second Michelin star, something which many said was long overdue. Now a true destination restaurant, diners travel from all over the world to eat there.