23 Facts About Tom Aikens

Tom Aikens appeared on television, including Great British Menu as one of its contestants and then one of its veteran chef judges.

Tom Aikens was born in Norwich in 1970 to his family who have been wine merchants.

Tom Aikens weighed just over three pounds at birth and was treated in an incubator for two months.

Tom Aikens started working at three-Michelin-starred La Tante Claire under Pierre Koffman.

Tom Aikens returned to Pied a Terre in 1996 and was appointed head chef in May of the same year.

On 10 December 1999, a 19-year-old chef Marcus Donaldson was burned with a hot knife, and Tom Aikens was accused of causing the incident.

However, Tom Aikens decided to leave Pied a Terre and establish his own restaurant, which was decided some time prior and unrelated to the incident.

On 2 November 2006, Aikens opened a newer restaurant Tom's Kitchen, which occupied a former site of a defunct pub The Blenheim, located at Cale Street near Aikens's other eponymous restaurant.

Aikens and his eponymous restaurant group, Tom Aikens Group, opened another iteration at Westferry Circus of Canary Wharf on 29 June 2013 and then the Mailbox Birmingham iteration in December 2016.

Tom Aikens closed the Birmingham and Canary Wharf iterations on 30 May 2019.

Tom Aikens closed the Chelsea location on 2 January 2020, citing "extremely challenging market conditions [and] staff and skills shortages".

Tom Aikens sold his two remaining eponymous restaurants to TA Holdco Ltd, owned by Peter Dubens and David Till, leaving his suppliers with unpaid bills.

Tom Aikens opened a 25-seater fine dining restaurant Muse, located at Belgravia, on 11 January 2020, six years after backing away from the fine dining scene.

Tom Aikens appeared on the long-running cooking show "Great Chefs of the World" in the fourth episode of the fifth season, filmed at his Pied a Terre restaurant.

Tom Aikens presented a starter course of roasted scallops with celeriac puree and glazed pork belly.

Tom Aikens appeared in Saturday Kitchen and then Iron Chef UK in late April 2010, competing against Judy Joo, Sanjay Dwivedi, and Martin Blunos.

Tom Aikens later has reappeared in the series as a veteran chef judge for regional heats.

Tom Aikens competed in the seven-episode 2020 Christmas special of the series.

Tom Aikens won the Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 Catey Awards for his newly established eponymous restaurant.

Tom Aikens has been awarded up to two Michelin stars for his restaurants.

Tom Aikens currently holds one for his restaurant Muse, located in Belgravia.

In 2024 Tom Aikens received the AA Chefs' Chef of the Year title.

Tom Aikens married his partner of nine years Justine Dobbs-Higginson, a former Goldman Sachs banker, in Corsica in summer 2018.