Former Aquavit chef Henrik Ritzén named executive head chef at The Double Red Duke

Country Creatures is pleased to announce that Henrik Ritzén has joined the team at The Double Red Duke as executive chef.

Henrik Ritzén grew up on a sheep farm on a small island off the northwest coast of Sweden.
His family grew organic vegetables and produced their own honey which they sold in the
farm shop and exported to supermarkets.

His initial interest in cooking undoubtedly came
from spending time in the kitchen with his mother and learning how to make her everyday
dishes, beloved by his family. At the age of 16,

Henrik left Koster Island and moved to
Gothenburg where he trained for 3 years at the Ester Mosessons Gymnasium culinary school.

Soon after graduating from culinary school, Henrik gained a position at a Farbror Hjördis
restaurant, where Shane Osborne (later at 2* Pied a Terre, in London) had just been made
Head Chef.

Shane was a great inspiration in Henrik’s formative years and planted the idea
that he should move to London to pursue his career. He then gained a position at the
renowned Fiskekrogen in Gothenburg where he stayed for three years before moving to
London at the end of 1997.

While in London, Henrik worked at the Blue Print Café alongside Jeremy Lee and then at The
Square with Philip Howard. In 2004, Henrik took on his first Head Chef position at the highly
regarded gastro pub, The Anglesea Arms in Hammersmith.

In 2007, he was hired by Henry
Harris as head chef at the critically acclaimed regional French bistro, Racine. Following
Racine, he was opening head chef for the Boundary Restaurant in Shoreditch for three years
and then, in 2001, became opening head chef at Dover Street Arts Club. Most notably,
Henrik became executive chef at Aquavit London in 2016 where he attained a Michelin star
after just 10 months of opening.

As the executive chef at The Double Red Duke, the latest
opening from the Country Creatures family, a boutique collection of restaurants and pubs in
The Cotswolds, Henrik will continue to develop a menu alongside Country Creatures’ Sam
Pearman, focusing on British, locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients, as well as
cooking over fire.

On his appointment, he said: ‘I was looking for a new challenge outside of London and I’m extremely excited to be part of such a passionate team.

"I’m looking forward to building on what is already a great menu and working with some of the best producers/suppliers in the country surrounded by the beauty of the Cotswolds’ countryside’.

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