Amber Francis named head chef at Robin Gill restaurant, The Zebra Riding Club at Birch

Amber Francis has been named head chef at The Zebra Riding Club, the restaurant led by Robin Gill at Hertfordshire boutique hotel and members' club, Birch

In her new role, she will oversee the food offering at the 70-seat, farm-to-fork restaurant with a team of seven under her management, concocting seasonal menus using ingredients from the hotel's own farm.

The young chef honed her craft at some of the country's finest restaurants, from The Hand and Flowers to Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, where she did work experience while at school, to The Ritz, where she was an apprentice before taking on her first role as a commis and training for a year in the pastry section.

She also earned a distinction from the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts upon graduating from her Specialised Chef Scholarship, was crowned highest achiever in the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Graduate Awards and was one of the finalists in the National Chef of the Year 2017 competition. 

She first worked for Robin Gill in 2018, first at The Dairy in Clapham then at Bermondsey Larder in 2020, before moving on to Brawn in Shoreditch in 2021. 

Evidently not one to sit on her hands, Amber is a Mental Health Champion for Kelly's Cause charity and a Craft Guild of Chefs' Young Chef Ambassador. She has also undertaken stages at three Michelin-starred Californian restaurants Benu and The French Laundry.