Skye Gyngell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skye Gyngell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 September 1963 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 22 November 2025 (aged 62) London, England |
| Spouse |
Thomas Gore
(m. 1989; div. 1996) |
| Father | Bruce Gyngell |
| Relatives |
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| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | European cuisine |
Rating
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Previous restaurant
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Awards won
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Skye Gyngell (6 September 1963 – 22 November 2025) was an Australian chef who was best known for her work as food editor for Vogue, and for winning a Michelin star at the Petersham Nurseries Café in London. She first trained as a chef in France, and afterwards moved to Britain.
Gyngell was born in Sydney on 6 September 1963.[1] Her father was Bruce Gyngell, an Australian television executive.[2]
Career
Gyngell trained at La Varenne restaurant in Paris, France, under chef Anne Willan.[1] She then moved to work at the Dodin-Bouffant restaurant before going to work at the French House, Soho, in London.[3] She went on to work at the Dorchester under Anton Mosimann.[4] She cooked for dinner parties, including for celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.[5]
She joined the Petersham Nurseries Café as head chef at its opening in 2004,[6] having convinced the owners of the nurseries to allow her to create the "antithesis of a West End restaurant" there.[3] The restaurant, set in the grounds of Petersham House,[6] was awarded a Michelin star in the 2011 list,[7] and she created a pop-up restaurant in London in conjunction with Cloudy Bay wines later in the year.[8] After eight years at the Café, she left in 2012.[9] In interviews she explained that she did not like the expectations that people had of a Michelin-starred restaurant and this led to her decision to quit,[10] and described the star as a "curse",[11] stating, "If I ever have another restaurant I pray we don't get a star."[12] She explained later that she regretted her comments about the Michelin star, but thought that the set-up at Petersham just did not allow for the expectations of customers to be met, describing the facilities as "cooking out of a garage".[12]
Later that year she announced a collaboration with Heckfield Place, and was named Culinary Director for the three restaurants there. In addition, she was being backed by the same investors to head a new restaurant in London.[13] She had already said that she would not turn down a new star.[12] She had declined offers to run the kitchens of Kensington Place restaurant and the café of the Serpentine Gallery.[12]
In November 2014, she opened Spring, a restaurant at Somerset House, London.[14] She wrote for The Independent on Sunday,[15] and was the food editor for magazine Vogue.[1]
Personal life and death
Gyngell married Thomas Gore in 1989. The couple divorced in 1996.[16] Gyngell had two children;[12] one daughter, Holly Gore from her marriage with Gore, and another daughter, Evie Henderson, from a following relationship.[16] She died of an aggressive form of skin cancer, Merkel-cell carcinoma, on 22 November 2025, at the age of 62.[2][17]