McAndrew’s career spanned more than five decades and included working with Anton Mosimann at The Dorchester, where he entered the world of kitchens, at the Capital Hotel and at London’s Waldorf Hotel. He took his first head-chef position at Eastwell Manor in Kent and the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 1982.
Three years later, he and his wife Jane opened Restaurant Seventy Four in Canterbury, which also won a Michelin star. McAndrew also ran Restaurant One Sixteen in Knightsbridge and he and Jane later owned Blackaddie House Hotel in Dumfries & Galloway.
Announcing the news on social media, Master Chefs of Great Britain said: “It is with great sadness that we have learned that Michelin Star Chef Ian McAndrew has passed away. George McIvor, MCGB Chairman- Ian was a dear friend and an inspiration to many young chefs. His knowledge, passion and commitment to the industry was exemplary. Our thoughts and condolences are with Jane and the family.”
McAndrew published three cookbooks - including A Feast of Fish, and Poultry & Game - and earlier this year he released his autobiography Just call me Chef, which promised to show the reality of working in old hotel kitchens. Speaking about it to the Craft Guild of Chefs he said: “People love the shiny bits: the plates, the tweezers, the applause. But the real story of a chef’s life lives in the less glamorous places: the larder at five in the morning, the burns you don’t mention, the daft mistakes that nearly end you, the moments of pride you’d never admit to at the pass. This book is those bits.
“It starts where mine started: not with a grand culinary vision, but with a teenage lad trying to dodge metalwork and ending up in cookery by accident. From there it’s proper graft through big brigades, proper standards, and the sort of kitchen pressure that makes you either better or broken. Sometimes both.
“There are stories in there that still make me wince. A few that still make me laugh. And plenty that will make any working chef nod slowly and mutter, ‘Yep. Been there’.”
Responding to the news, Tom Kerridge described McAndrew as an “outstanding chef and wonderful man”.
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