Ian McAndrew

Ian McAndrew grew up in a working-class family in Seaham, County Durham, in the north east of England. In his memoir, Just Call Me Chef, he wrote that his path into cooking began not with a grand culinary vision but with a teenage lad trying to dodge metalwork and ending up in cookery by accident.

He entered professional kitchens in London in the late 1970s, starting under Anton Mosimann at The Dorchester in Mayfair, and went on to learn his craft in large hotel brigades including the Carlton Tower, the Capital Hotel, the Waldorf and Intercontinental hotels.

In November 1979 McAndrew joined Eastwell Manor, a country house hotel near Ashford in Kent, as executive chef a few months before it opened, and built its kitchen from scratch with a largely young and untested team. The hotel won a Michelin star, an award most reports date to 1982, when he was 30, and he was widely recognised as the youngest British chef to lead a venue to a star at a time when stars were rare in the UK.

In 1985 he and his wife Jane opened Restaurant Seventy Four in Canterbury, which also gained a Michelin star. He later ran Restaurant One Sixteen in Knightsbridge and the Boathouse Brasserie in Hythe, and cooked at the James Beard House in New York. In the late 1990s he moved to Norfolk to focus on a culinary consultancy business, and he also served as culinary director of the London contract caterer In House Catering.

In 2007 he and Jane took over Blackaddie House Hotel in Sanquhar, Dumfries and Galloway, where he returned to the stove and oversaw a nine bedroom hotel with a two AA rosette restaurant for 14 years before retiring. He was chairman of Visit South West Scotland until 2021. He published the cookbooks A Feast of Fish and Poultry and Game, and in 2026 released his memoir, Just Call Me Chef, about life in old hotel kitchens.

McAndrew was married to Jane, who was his partner in business as well as in life, opening Restaurant Seventy Four with him in Canterbury and later running Blackaddie House Hotel alongside him in Scotland. The Master Chefs of Great Britain sent their condolences to Jane and the family when announcing his death.

Ian McAndrew died at the age of 74. His death was announced by the Master Chefs of Great Britain on social media on Sunday, 11 October 2026. Chairman George McIvor said Ian had been a dear friend and an inspiration to many young chefs, and that his knowledge, passion and commitment to the industry were exemplary. The exact date, place and cause of his death were not made public.

Tributes followed from across the hospitality industry. Tom Kerridge described him as an outstanding chef and a wonderful man, and Dan Ashmore, vice chairman of the Master Chefs of Great Britain, said it had been a pleasure to have him at the organisation's lunch earlier that year.

McAndrew is remembered as a chef's chef whose early Michelin success helped raise the standing of British cooking. Chefs who trained under him included Phil Vickery, Michael Deane and the late Paul Kitching. Simon Young, who worked at Eastwell Manor, said Ian's historic achievement had been a revelation that inspired a young generation of cooks. Phil Howard of Elystan Street said a meal at Seventy Four as a student in Canterbury had made him decide to become a chef, and Kenneth Culhane of the Dysart Petersham said Ian's books embodied honest, classical cooking and the art of a beautifully judged sauce.