Luke Thomas (chef)

Career

Thomas was born in Connah's Quay, North Wales, and began cooking at the age of 12. He has worked at the Chester Grosvenor Hotel, as well as the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai and Alinea in Chicago. He has also worked alongside several Michelin starred chefs, including Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck, Thomas Keller at a French Laundry pop-up restaurant in London, and Gary Rhodes. In 2009, at the age of 15, he won the FutureChef competition by Springboard.

In February 2012, at the age of 18, Thomas became the youngest head chef in the United Kingdom when he took over at a restaurant in Cookham. The restaurant was originally called Sanctum on the Green, but was renamed to "Luke's Fine Dining at Sanctum on the Green" under Thomas. This was filmed for television for the BBC Three documentary series Britain's Youngest Chef. Although this was the first filmed appearance by Thomas, his first broadcast television appearance was as an expert on Junior MasterChef. He also competed in the Great British Menu in 2012 against Mary Ann Gilchrist and Richard Davies, where he became the youngest competitor to ever appear on the show.

In May 2013 he is opening a pop-up restaurant for six months in Mayfair, London, alongside Mark Fuller. Fuller has compared Thomas to Marco Pierre White, while Thomas says that his idol is Jamie Oliver. Fuller appeared alongside Thomas in Britain's Youngest Chef, where he admitted that he teamed up with Thomas without tasting any of his food, and there was an intention to use the opportunity for public relations. Television critic Tim Dowling said of the series, "This was ostensibly a documentary about a talented but overambitious young lad who would learn from his mistakes before he jeopardised a bright future. But I'm afraid I came away thinking that all the difficulties at Sanctum on the Green could have been overcome more quickly if everybody had just shut up and listened to Luke."