Romy GillMBE is a British-Indian chef, food writer, author and broadcaster. She was the owner and head chef at Romy's Kitchen in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. In 2016 she was appointed an MBE in the Queen's 90th birthday honours list. Romy has amassed a number of television and radio appearances, including presenting, co-presenting and judging roles. She regularly contributes to national and international publications, including The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph.
When Gill moved to the UK in 1993,[1] she began hosting dinner parties for friends, later running cookery classes, which led to her launching her own range of sauces, pickles, chutneys and spice mixes.
She gave cookery demonstrations both in England and further afield, and in September 2013 she opened her first restaurant, Romy's Kitchen.
Style of cooking
Gill's style of Indian cooking is very different from that found at the majority of Indian restaurants in the UK. She avoids the use of unnatural food colourings, and is a fan of combining Indian and British cuisine.
She combines spices and flavours that she grew up with in India with ingredients that she was only introduced to when she moved to the UK, creating dishes such as gurnard cooked in coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato puree, ginger, garlic and her own spice blend; and monkfish marinated in turmeric and lemon juice, then cooked with onions, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, 5 spice mix paste and her own spices.
In order to open her restaurant, Gill applied to a number of banks for a loan, but was turned down by every one apart from NatWest,[3] providing her with the business loan that she needed to get her restaurant underway, leading her to be featured on the BBC News in a segment about the struggles that entrepreneurs face when trying to raise the necessary funds to start a new, local business.
In 2014 Gill was shortlisted for the 15th Asian Women of Achievement Awards (AWA),[5] which celebrate women who make an "outstanding contribution to our culture and economy". In the same year, her restaurant, Romy's Kitchen, was shortlisted as "Best Newcomer" in the British Curry Awards.[6]
Gill demonstrates her cooking at festivals both in the UK and abroad. In the UK, she has given demonstrations at the Foodies Festival, Grand Designs exhibitions and at food and cultural festivals in Abu Dhabi, New York City and other locations.
In addition, she gives talks and cookery demonstrations in schools where she discusses how food is cultivated, the importance of eating with the seasons and the impact of food on the environment.
Gill, along with two other female Indian chefs and Atul Kochhar, gave a demonstration at Kochhar's restaurant, Benares, in November 2012 to raise money for charity,[8] and is an avid fundraiser for charity Frank Water.[9]
In May 2014, Romy was heavily involved with the Bristol Food Connections festival: a citywide celebration of local food and drink. Along with other top chefs such as Martin Blunos, Tom Kerridge and Ken Hom, Romy took to the BBC Stars' Kitchen[12] to give live demos of some of her popular recipes.[13] During the Bristol Food Connections festival, Romy was also a guest on Saturday Live,[14] alongside Jay Rayner and others.
In 2016, Romy was a guest chef at Carousel London,[15] and returned for another stint a year later.[16]
In 2017, Romy gave demonstrations at a range of festivals, including the BBC Good Food Show, the Abergavenny Food Festival, the Big Feastival, Dartmouth Food Festival and the Padstow Christmas Festival.[17]
Romy contributes regularly to food publications such as Crumbs, Olive,[18] Delicious,[19] Saveur[20] and Food52,[21] and has featured in The Guardian,[22] where she had a residency in April 2016.
She has a number of recipes on the BBC Food website,[23] as well as having published recipes and articles in The Times,[24] The Telegraph,[25] The New York Times,[26] Today,[27] You Magazine,[28] Ocado,[29] The Independent[30] and The Observer.
In 2017, Romy travelled to India with Suitcase Magazine, where she explored and wrote articles on Ladakh[31] and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.[32]
She has featured as the subject of a film short on "Family Dinners" on Food Network UK,[36] with more BBC and ITV appearances in the pipeline.
Radio appearances
Romy has appeared frequently on the radio - as a presenter, a co-presenter and a judge. She has taught Woman's Hour listeners to make vegetarian samosas,[37] and has shared her recipe for spicy chickpeas on BBC Radio 4.[38] Other radio interview topics include Madhur Jaffrey,[39] issues with the restaurant trade,[40] food during the COVID-19 outbreak[41] and lockdowns,[42] pumpkins and winter squash,[43] food and mental health[44] and mangoes.[45]
